Figuring Out the Future
by storyteller1805
Summary: Kim is 19, in college, and trying to apply for a job. She wishes she could just get away from the pressure and stress that adulthood has looming over her head. However, her wish brings Peter Pan to her. What happens when she gets to Neverland and is there more to here than meets the eye? Slight AU. No Curse or need of Henry's heart.
1. Chapter 1

_This resume is going to be the death of me_.

"Do you think it'd be appropriate to put down 'Fluent in sarcasm and telling it like it is. Please hire'? I feel like it's a solid plan."

"Oh yeah, go for it. Let me know when you get the call back," snickered the noise in my ear.

"Yeah, well who even asked for your opinion, Blake? I knew I should have called Taylor instead. At least she would have told me to add other ridiculous things to my resume. Geez, why is it so hard to market yourself?" I continued to stare at my computer screen as I readjusted the phone in my ear.

"Speak for yourself. Not everyone can be as charismatic as me," Blake replied.

"I swear that if you were here right now, you would have earned at least 3 punches in the arm," I said in as intimidating a voice I could muster. Granted, it came out as more of a tired sigh than anything. "You'd think after going to college for a year and a half all you'd really need to put on any sort of resume is 'I've gone to school. I'm educated. I'm not a murderer, I promise. I'm poor, please give me this job.' But no, instead I have to think about everything I've done in the last 5 years and try to not sound like the most boring person alive under 'Skills and Other.'"

"You will be fine. I have faith in you, seriously. Don't worry about it so much. If you don't get the job, then there will be others." His voice had lost its playful tone now, like it always did when I was starting to let anxiety get the better of me.

I spun in my chair a minute. Taking a break from the screen as well as taking a break from thinking about the stress of the future. "Yeah….I know, but wouldn't it be great if there wasn't this stress about the future? Sometimes I just wish I could get away from this. It was so much easier before all this 'adulthood' crap started raining down upon us. It would be amazing to go somewhere and know that I didn't have to worry about work or school the next day."

"I feel ya. However, speaking of responsibility, I need to go get my sister from cheerleading practice. I'll talk to you later." I could tell by his tone that we had clearly ended the "emotional" part of our conversation. Blake and I have been best friends for years, but he'll still shy away from remaining in a deep conversation too long. I don't blame him though, there's not much he can say to anything I talk about, and he knows better to actually say "Get over it," when it comes to my anxiety. So I appreciate the talks we do have when it comes up, no matter how short. He's been with me through a lot, and in return I don't pressure him about his personal things.

"Okay. Drive safe. Try to avoid any flailing high shcoolers attacking you because of your 'older' looks. You're tall, have that great shaggy blonde hair, and those big, brown eyes. What are those girls to do?" I joked. We may be 19 years old, but he's still mad that he has "perpetual baby face" as he calls it.

"Oh shut up. I'm leaving now."

"Classic response. If you get bored later, you can come over. Use the alternate way in if you do, I don't feel like going to the door." Alternate meaning my second story bedroom window.

"Mmm…'kay. Later." And then I was truly left alone with my thoughts.

Not wanting to look at that pathetic excuse of a resume I was attempting to make, I glanced around my room some more. The room may be a boring square shape, but I enhanced it the best I could. Blue walls from when I was still in high school, full-sized bed in the corner with stripes in multiple shades of blue, pictures from the internet, vacations, and ones that I've drawn myself surround – all so much more interesting than my boring house next to the woods in the middle of Michigan. _I shouldn't be so hard on the woods_, I thought as I turned to look out my window to the left of my desk. _It really is pretty during the sunset_. Really the only benefit to living near the woods is using the cover of trees to have friends come in and visit at late times. Or sneak out – not that my parents need to know that (nor do they). The large oak tree near our house gave easy enough access to the roof and my room.

_Not that they care anyway. Not as long as you "graduate with honors from college and get a high paying job." _My parents mean well, really. I mean, all parents want what's best for their kids' right? They are rarely home anyway. Mom's a best-selling author and Dad's a high up business man – makes for lots of meetings and tours. I turned back to my desk to glance at my wall calendar. December 23rd and all alone until Mom and Dad got home the 27th, not that they'd stick around long enough before going off to their next party. "Merry Christmas, Kim," I whispered to myself, sighing as I went back to staring at my laptop.

After trying to figure out every synonym for "proficient" and "good", my stomach decided to inform me that maybe it'd be good to eat dinner since it was 9:30 and I hadn't eaten since 12. While I was rummaging around the pantry and fridge trying to come up with something besides the frozen pizza I was bound to make, I thought I heard an additional noise that wasn't me. Instantly my hyper-alert senses kicked in, and I tried my best to calm down before it reached a panic level. It was also at that moment that I realized my phone was in my room. "Idiot," I muttered quietly to myself.

As I was sneaking back up the stairs I remembered what I had said to Blake about using the alternate entrance if he wanted to come hang out. I never lock my window until I go to bed and he knows it. He probably just came in when he realized I left my phone behind again – a nasty habit of mine. As I neared my room, I heard the sound of someone opening and closing my drawers. "Blake, I swear that if I see you going through my dresser, I will actually…." I trailed off as I turned into my room.

Because it sure as hell wasn't Blake in my room. It was a stranger.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**This is the first time I've tried writing a fanfiction. I don't own Once Upon a Time or it's characters. **


	2. Chapter 2

This is it. I'm about to enter the next Law and Order episode entitled "Reasons Why Girls Should Not Leave Windows Open When they Live by the Woods and their Parents Are Gone" (the title needs work).

"Umm… Hi," I said. _What do you even say to kidnappers? Why is there no sort of guidebook for these interactions?_

"Hello. My name's Peter. Peter pan," said the strange guy standing in the middle of my room, smiling at me.

Now at this, I grew really concerned. First of all, he had a British accent, which is bizarre to find because our town isn't the sort of big city place foreigners would want to come live. Second, he was around my age. He looked to be 19, but was wearing the weirdest clothes. His dark green short sleeved shirt had an off v-shape to it in the front and looked like it possibly had fur lining the inside, dirtied grey pants with brown boots lacing up to his knees. A large brown belt wrapped across his stomach where a small knife pouch was hanging and he had small cuffs around his wrists. He was taller than me, maybe 5'10" or 5'11" (not that it's hard to be taller than 5'5" anyway) with dirty blond hair that was somewhat long, but still stayed close to his head. Green eyes, lean muscles. If I'd seen him on campus, he might have been considered cute, but it's hard to think that when it's a weird guy standing in the middle of your bedroom. Third, did he really think I'd buy this whole Peter Pan thing?

"Right…..You know, I'm impressed by your dedication to being "Peter Pan" by your outfit and everything. Really, I am. But are you here to kidnap me?" I asked. Who knows, if you ask them confusing questions, maybe the kidnapper decides to go away.

"Kidnap you? Why would I kidnap you?" He asked, looking genuinely confused, but there was something in his eyes that put me off.

"Showing up in my room when I'm all alone is painting that picture pretty well, if you're asking."

"To be fair, I'm not the one who left a window unlocked. Do you have a lot of visitors come through this way? Kind of shady," he said, taking on this tone like we had some sort of inside joke going on. His eyes were losing that innocent look he had on before and were gaining a teasing glint to them.

"Actually, only a few select people get to come through that window, and unfortunately, you aren't on that list. So if you'd just go back out the way you came in, that'd be swell," I said with a confidence that I wasn't fully sure I had.

"Oh come on, Kimberly," he said now getting up. He started walking around, walking gradually closer to me. "I thought you were the one who said you wished you could get away from this. That you could go somewhere and not have to worry about school or work the next day," he said as he was walking behind me.

"Are you stalking me?" I asked, more seriously than I had anything else during this whole bizarre conversation.

"What? Why would I be stalking you?" "Peter" looked like he was offended by the idea, but there no hiding that mischievous look I finally identified.

"Two reasons, Pete. I literally just said those words to my friend a few hours ago. And I never told you my name," I spoke as calmly as I could, but my natural instinct to run away was kicking in. Especially seeing his demeanor change when I called him a different name and called him out for stalking me.

He stopped his casual walking and decided to come close to me, getting in my face. "Listen here, you would do well not to challenge me. I never lose," he said lowly, almost growl-like.

_Stop being an idiot. Angry kidnappers rape or kill. Both bad, especially the second. Pull back and think of a plan_. "Sorry dude, I didn't mean to make you angry. Chill out," I held my hands up in a surrendering manner, which seemed to help him relax. It sure didn't make that stupid smirk go away though; no, it was back in full force.

"Don't worry about it. Already forgotten," he said as he began his stroll again.

As I continued watching him, I started dissecting his behavior. Being an only child with parents gone all the time offered me a lot of time in high school to go sit and observe people and learn to observe nonverbal language. Heading off to college offered me more chances to practice my people watching, and work on detecting when people were lying. My closest friends said I'd been getting pretty good at nailing them every time.

This guy, delusional or not, he was making my observation senses go crazy.

I had to get him out of here.


	3. Chapter 3

"So…..you're Peter Pan, you said?" inwardly cursing at how awkward that transition was.

"The one and only," he smirked with a mocking bow. _Seriously, didn't I have to deal with enough of these attitudes at parties?_

"Like Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, Peter Pan?"

"I see you're very informed," he said still subtly studying me.

"Yeah, well my information says you're supposed to be like 11 and wear a pointy green hat, so I wouldn't necessarily say I'm an expert," I responded nonchalantly.

"I find it so fascinating how you people have created all these ridiculous stories," he said.

_Bingo_. Here was my opportunity. Whether he's really Peter Pan or escaped from the Loony Bin, if I can get him outside to "prove" he's Pan, then I can lock the window while he's distracted. Operation: Get Out of My Room.

"Prove it then."

"Excuse me?" He looked somewhat confused, but intrigued by my new line of questioning.

"I'm no Wendy. I don't believe you're 'Peter Pan' just because you say so. Prove you are," I said with more strength.

"You're certainly no Wendy," he said looking me up and down. _Ugh, gross_. I wanted to tell him there's not much to look at. Average height girl, slim, average looks, blue eyes, long blonde hair, light tan from running – nothing special. Then I figured holding my tongue would be better than saying something to piss him off again. Besides, wearing skinny jeans and a plain black v-neck didn't leave me fearing he would actually decide try to make a move at me. _Well….not that worried_, I thought back to myself.

"So what should I do?" he asked, looking like he was about to play his favorite game.

"Something that should be easy enough if you are who you say you are: fly," I stated.

"Fly. That's it?" he sounded like the least impressed person on planet Earth.

"Why, that's not a problem is it?" I asked innocently.

"No," he sighed. "I just thought you'd think of something more…creative."

"Sorry to disappoint."

"Let's make it more interesting then," he said. That mischievous look came back into his eyes. _Shit_.

"Interesting how?" I questioned.

"If you feel like you've gained your proof, you come with me to Neverland. Meet the Lost Boys. Have some fun. Be free of your responsibility." He walked around me like he was a predator and I was his prey.

"And if I don't feel like you proved yourself?" I asked back.

"We'll cross that bridge if it comes. Now, now. What would impress you?" he asked eagerly.

"I'm afraid simple floating won't work for me. Criss Angel can do that, so that's nothing new," I said trying my best to sound very unimpressed by the idea.

Peter chuckled. "Oh I can do much better than floating."

"Okay then. I'd probably believe you if you did four loops, a cartwheel in the air, and flew upside down."

"Easy enough," Peter smirked, looking like he'd just taken candy from a baby.

As he was getting ready to lift off the ground, I jumped in. "No! You can't do it in here. My ceiling is too low for the loops. I can literally jump with my hand in the air and touch the ceiling. You look like it's going to be a piece of cake for you. It should only take you, what? A minute? Just jump outside really quick and do it," I said. Trying to make it seem like I was truly concerned he would hurt himself.

He gave me a look before saying, "True enough. It won't take me long."

We both walked over to the window. He stepped on the sill while I leaned next to him. He glanced at me smirking haughtily, then jumped off the sill.

The second he was off, I pulled my window shut and locked it. As I looked out, he was halfway through a loop when he realized what happened. He appeared right back at the window and slammed his fist against it causing me to jump back in fear. There was a look of pure rage on his face that I'd never seen in anyone before.

"You're a fool if you think this lock can keep me from getting to you. You WILL come with me to Neverland. It takes a lot for someone to be able to call to me from Neverland, and you did. You may deny it, but you are lost. The lost belong with me."

I kept the bravest face and voice I could considering I felt like I was a minute away from being killed. "Get out of here, you freak. If I see you again, I'm calling the cops."

"Trust me, darling. You won't get the chance." He smirked right before he vanished.

As soon as I could see he was gone, I sank to the ground by my bed shaking. I couldn't process what just happened except that:

That guy had been flying. And this was far from over.


	4. Chapter 4

"Idiot. You are such an idiot. The biggest idiot," I kept repeating to myself over and over.

I've done several stupid things in my life that very few people even knew about. But pissing off someone who snuck into my house to basically kidnap me? Dumb.

The more I thought about everything that just happened, the more I started to panic. Before I knew it, I was starting to have problems breathing. _Oh no, not now. Please not now._ I couldn't sit still. I couldn't hold still. There was no way I could handle having a panic attack right now.

I grabbed my iPod, headphones, and running shoes. I threw on a pair of yoga pants and switched out my shirt for a plain purple v-neck and went down to my basement heading straight for the treadmill. Running is the quickest way for me to get out of a panic attack if it's forming. I just run out all the worry while listening to music loudly as a distraction.

_I'm always screaming my lungs out, till my head starts spinning. Playing my songs is the way I cope with life….All I want is a place to call my own, to mend the hearts of everyone who feels alone. You know to keep your hopes up high and your head down low._ A Day to Remember, always a favorite of mine to play when I'm feeling particularly angry. Or frustrated. Or scared out of my mind. As my winter playlist continued, I just let myself get lost in the lyrics rather than think about anything.

After a good 45 minute run, I finally made it back up to my room and shut my door for the night. I walked over to my window to double check that it was firmly shut.

Turning around, I barely resisted the urge to scream. Peter was right behind me with a hard look in his eyes while he was glaring at me. Before I had time to do anything else, he said something to me I couldn't hear because of my music and blew a powder in my face.

I was out cold.

Eventually I woke up groggy and in a lot of pain. As I opened my eyes, I realized I was on the ground with lots of small sticks poking into my back. _That explains the back pain_. It was very dark with barely any moonlight getting through the dense trees and foliage. At first I thought I was in the woods until I looked around me. _I don't remember there being palm trees and bushes in my woods…Where's the evergreens? Is this some sick joke?_

When I sat up and looked around more, I saw my captor smirking at me from a tree stump. "Welcome to Neverland."


	5. Chapter 5

I just stared at him like I didn't understand a word he said. How could I? It's one thing to just say that you're Peter Pan, but a total other one to say, "By the way, I brought you to a magical land."

"You know," he started, "you really shouldn't have tricked me like that. It would have been _so_ much easier if you came here on your own willingly. After all, this place provides you will all those things you wished for and more." It would have been easier believing him if it weren't for the fact that I could feel all the secrets he was keeping.

"I don't know how many times I'll have to tell you this, but I didn't wish for anyone to kidnap me. Besides, for all I know that drug you hit me with could have hallucinogenic properties. I could be in a warehouse somewhere and not even know," I denied. There's no way this kid can expect me to believe him.

He stared at me stonily. Getting off his rock, he walked swiftly over to me and grabbed my arm. "Come on," he commanded. Then he proceeded to drag me through the underbrush. Fifteen minutes later we were standing on the edge of a large cliff that looked over part of an island. From the top I could see even more dense jungle surrounding the island. Far down there was a beach and a cove area. Extending from the beach was a black sea reaching as far as the eye could see.

"Still think you're in a warehouse?" he challenged. I didn't have to look at his face to see the look of triumph on it.

How was I supposed to just believe that this was Neverland of all places? It's a made up place, a story. And Peter Pan? The flying stunt was unexplainable. Unless…

"Can I borrow your knife for a minute?" I asked emotionlessly. Whatever response he had predicted would come from me was clearly not this. His eyebrows shot up into his hair. It would have made me laugh if the situation hadn't felt so serious.

"Any particular reason?" he asked curiously.

"I promise I'm not going to use your knife to kill myself or you. I'm using it as confirmation, if it helps," I explained looking straight into his eyes. He looked at me considering his choice before finally handing over his knife.

I tried to turn away from him to go through with my plan, but he put his hand on my shoulder to stop me. "There's really no point in doing that. We're in my home now. I could magically appear by you anytime I want. Nothing is secret from me," he explained it like it was a fact, but I could see how humorous he found my situation.

"Fine, then," I replied as nonchalantly as possible. Once he gave me the knife, I glanced down at it for a minute. The knife was fairly thin, but incredibly sharp. _Oh, it'll do_, I thought to myself. I knew that this was really the only way for me to prove to myself that what I was experiencing was real or not. I had never been able to hurt myself or be hurt in any dream I'd had before, not even the tiniest paper cut. I always woke up before anything could happen. I could jump off this cliff, but who knows if Peter would actually save me or just get a sick sense of pleasure watching me fall to my doom should it be real.

Finally picking up the courage, I brought the blade to the tip of my left index finger. I noticed Peter watching curiously, though I was sure he could guess what I was about to do at this point. Giving myself a countdown of three, I pushed the knife against my finger tip. _Just pretend it's like when Grandma had to check her blood sugar. Not a big deal_. I didn't gasp or wince when I did it. All I did was close my eyes and hope that when I opened them, I'd wake up in my bed. Opening my eyes and watching the blood slowly bubble up from the pin prick was all the confirmation I needed.

This was Neverland and I was stuck with Peter Pan. _Great…_


	6. Chapter 6

After another minute of staring off into space I finally realized that my finger was still bleeding. Licking it to try to stop the movement, I looked back to Peter. "So are we going to just stand here all night?" I asked.

Peter gazed at me amusedly with his smirk placed firmly on his face. "Well that depends entirely on you. Do you believe me now?"

There was going to be no way to end this conversation without giving him the satisfaction of being right. A pattern I had a feeling that would be part of most conversations with him. This kid obviously never lost an argument. _We'll see if that changes over the course of time I'm here, _my stubborn side threw in.

"This isn't a dream that's for sure," I said hoping we could move on to the part where I could get some sort of small Band-aid or cloth. _With my luck, it'll somehow get infected and then I'll die a slow death due to crazy Neverland germs_.

"And," he started again, leaning in closely and dropping his voice to just above a whisper, "who am I?" The glee in his eyes couldn't be contained even if he tried.

"You are Peter Pan," I reluctantly admitted.

Leaning back in contentment, he backed up before turning around. "Follow me then." Then he just walked away not caring to check if I followed.

I stared for a minute before jogging a little to catch up with him. No way was I going to get stuck in this jungle all alone. We walked silently through the woods. I lagged behind him a few steps trying to think about any possible way I could get out of this situation, but nothing was coming to me. Clearly Neverland was in a totally different universe from Earth. Besides, it wasn't like I was one of those super swimmers who could swim across an ocean. It seemed like I was going to be here for a while at least.

Peter brushed aside a plant, and held it for me to step into a small clearing. There was a large fire in the center with some fallen trees placed around it as benches. There had to be somewhere around a dozen boys sitting around the fire, too. From a quick glance it looked as though the ages ranged from about 12 to 20, all of them wearing similar outfits as Peter but they also had capes. Some of the younger boys were having sword fights with each other and some were just lying around doing nothing while the oldest boys were sharpening various weapons. _Good going, Kim. Get kidnapped by Peter Pan and his followers living out _Lord of the Flies_. With your luck you'll end up being Piggy_.

It didn't take long for them to notice their leader had come back. Looks of excitement turned to confusion as soon as they noticed me. I continued to look at them with the straightest face I could manage. If these followers were anything like their leader (which seemed like a good bet), they would prey on anything that resembled fear.

"Gather round, boys!" Peter called. "We have a guest. This is Kim. She's going to be joining us now. Let's show her how we celebrate a new person joining camp." He looked back at me with that same smirk and looked like a kid who just won a great prize. He gestured for me to walk with him over to where the two older boys sat.

"Oh, what happened here?" one of them asked in a drawl as we approached. His hood covered half his face, but his long, mess hair stuck out anyway. He had a long face with a scar running down part of it.

"Pricked my finger, thanks for asking," I stated obviously before Peter could get anything in. He gave a slight chuckle and I glanced at him. His green eyes showed how amusing he found the situation, making it seem like we had an inside joke together about the whole thing.

"Relax, Felix," he said to the boy who just talked. "Jack, get a bandage for our new Lost Girl." I narrowed my eyes at him for the use of the word, but knew better than to provoke him as I was about to take care of my other problem.

The boy next to Felix started rummaging around in a sack, so this must have been Jack looking for some sort of wrap. _Not exactly a boy, though, is he?_ Even while sitting on the log, I could tell he had to be Peter's height or taller. His dark brown hair was cut short and complimented his dark skin tone. Turning to me, I could see his beautiful brown eyes. _You could pass yourself off as the guy who played Dean Thomas if you just threw on a Hogwarts uniform_, I thought to myself laughing a little in my mind.

"Here we go," Jack's voice dragged me out of my thoughts. Although it almost set off another range of thoughts in my head. His deep, British accent had me almost blushing, _Oh yes, definitely Dean_. He had a clean piece of cloth in his hand and was extending it to me.

"Thanks," I muttered as I took the wrap and sat next to him to try to wrap it around the tip of my finger. After a minute of trying to get it to wrap around the number of times and failing, the three boys started laughing at me. I took it in stride as I sighed and tried again to apply it.

"Hey, let me help," Jack said gently as he took the cloth out of my grasp. I held my hand out to him as he wrapped the cloth a couple times around my finger before tying the ends in a knot. "There we go," he said with a wide smile.

"Thank you. It probably didn't deserve a wrap on it, to be honest," I responded warmly, giving a smile in kind. It was the first sign of kindness I had experienced so far on this island.

Felix had gone back to sharpening an arrowhead, so I glanced back up at Peter. His face had lost any sign of amusement. He was looking at me with a blank face, but my mind was telling me that there was a slight anger forming under there. _Are you kidding, what could I have done already to piss him off again?_

Giving him a slightly confused look, I turned my head back toward the fire. All of the boys seemed like they were genuinely happy, which puzzled me even more. How could the young boys like living in a jungle far away from home and their parents? At least it made somewhat more sense for the older kids my age, they could fend for themselves. What would happen to one of them if they got hurt? They'd have no one to take care of them. I stopped looking at the boys and frowned into the fire, contemplating what would make them want to remain here. _All I want to do already is leave._


	7. Chapter 7

Peter then jumped up onto a log and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Time for the real festivities to begin!" he shouted. All of the boys raised their arms in the air to cheer their response. I looked on, feeling like I'd rather go to bed than start a party.

He proceeded to draw out a pan flute from his belt. _Well, I guess I know now where the whole "Pan" part comes from_. As Peter started playing, the rest of them practically ran to the circle around the fire and started dancing around like this was their theme song. I truly felt like I had stepped into some crazy life.

I didn't get why they liked the music so much. It sounded like the awful recorders you were forced to play in school. All of my strength was being placed in not covering my ears to get the horrible sound out. Jack tried to come over and signal to me to get up and dance, but I shook my head and held my hands up to my head showing that I was tired. He just shrugged it off and went back to dancing.

When I thought I was about to lose control over doing nothing about the music, it stopped. The boys kept dancing anyway. I looked back down at my bandage to make sure the blood wasn't seeping through when I noticed the firelight blocked by someone. When I looked up, it was the one and only Peter Pan standing in front of me.

"Don't you want to get up? The special occasion is for you after all. The boys are enjoying the music," he asked curiously. As always, there was something underlying his question that I couldn't figure out yet.

"I'm a little tired to be honest. Bit of a long day you know?" I responded. "Besides, the sound of screeching pipes isn't exactly what I would call dance music." As soon as I finished talking he looked at me like I was the most intriguing puzzle he'd seen in a long time.

"You didn't enjoy the music?" he pressed.

"Nope," I said popping the end of it for emphasis. "Speaking of music, would you mind giving me back that device I had on me when you hit me with that powder?" Seriously, my iPod meant more to me than most of my other possessions.

"What makes you think I didn't leave it back in your realm?" he smirked. Too bad for him, I could see the truth in his eyes.

"Oh you know," I started, "I figured it would be intriguing to you. Obviously you don't have any type of technology on this island as you still use torches and live in a jungle. It's a shiny new toy for you to play with. Now be a peach and give it back. You owe me that at least."

He gazed at me considering for a couple minutes. I thought he was going to flat out tell me no because of the peach comment until he reached into a pocket in his shirt I couldn't see. Then he pulled out my baby, headphones included. I stuck my hand out to grab it when he pulled it back.

"You get it back with one condition. Explain to me how this…thing has anything to do with music." Clearly he didn't know a thing about technology. He thought must have thought it was an instrument to play.

_This will be fun_, I thought. "I'm not sure how to explain it myself, so I'll just give you an example instead," I said trying to grab it again, but he still pulled it back. "Dude, I'm not 5. I'm not playing the grab it game with you. I can't give you my example until you give it to me," I explained while trying to resist the urge to punch him.

He looked like he doubted me for a minute before handing it over to me. As he laid it in my hand, he drew his fingers back slowly over mine, smirking at me once again. I could tell he did it to get a rise out of me. Luckily college has given me enough encounters with overconfident guys at parties to not even be phased by this. I was surprised by how cold his skin seemed even though he was standing closer to the fire than me. _Maybe here body temperature matches your personality_, I thought darkly.

The familiarity I felt from having my iPod back in my hand felt good though. The next process was deciding which song should be the example. I had plenty of nice songs I could choose from, but picking out a song that was heavy on drums, electric guitar, and screaming seemed like a better option to throw him off. It would be funny for me at least. I was scrolling through all my playlists trying to find the one I thought would be best.

He cleared his throat catching my attention. His eyes clearly said, "Hurry up." Rather than test my luck, I quickly found a song that fit the bill. "Hell Above" by Pierce the Veil. As I picked the song, I quickly paused it, subtly making sure the music was turned up a little over halfway. I would consider it a normal volume, but it would hopefully surprise Peter who isn't used to it.

I handed him the headphones. "Here," I said. "You just put them in your ears."

He looked at them for a second before placing them in his ears. As soon as he pulled his hands down from them he looked at me with narrowed eyes again. "Is this some type of a trick?" he accused. "I can't hear anything."

"Well, that's because I haven't started it yet. I wanted to make sure the headphones were in first. The music sounds best when they're actually all the way in," I explained calmly. He nodded his head in acceptance, although he still looked like he didn't fully trust me. _Good choice_, I thought as I hit the play button. Not even ten seconds into the song he ripped out the headphones with a grunt, breathing heavily.

"You did that on purpose," he said. If looks could kill, I'd probably be dead at this point. Our conversation finally captured everyone else's and they were all standing still not making a sound. Jack had the decency to look somewhat concerned while Felix looked like he was just waiting for Peter to kill me, which in his defense, still felt like a possibility.

"I'm sorry about the volume, I forgot," I said sincerely, hoping my eyes got across the "I really didn't try to do that" look. "I always listen to it that loud; sometimes I actually forget about it."

He still looked angry, but he had calmed down a little at least. He closed his eyes taking another deep breath. When he opened them, he asked, "What exactly were those noises coming from those little things on the end?"

I couldn't help but laugh a little at his lack of technical terms. "These," I said holding the headphones in my hand, "are called headphones. There are little wires that run through the cord that pass along the sounds. That's about as much as I know for how they work, so I won't be helpful with any other questions on that. If you're talking about the 'noise' coming out of them, that was most likely electric guitars, an electric bass, and a drum set. You didn't get to the part where he started to sing."

He moved his nasty look from me to glare hard down at my iPod like it was a demon. "And that," he spat, "sounded better to listen to than what I was playing?" He seemed really fixated on that fact that I didn't like his music, and I couldn't figure out why it mattered so much in the first place.

"I think so," I repeated. "I'm sure you play it wonderfully. I guess maybe I don't see the appeal of the instrument?" I tried to make it sound like more of a question and less of a fact.

While looking at me, Peter finally realized that the others were still staring at us. "What are you looking at?" he asked turning around to face them. "If you don't feel like playing anymore, then we're going to call it a night." His tone left no room open for discussion on the matter. The boys all seemed to scoot back and away from anywhere near Peter as they left the clearing. Now even Felix's face took on a concerned look, which I knew meant I had royally pissed off Mr. High and Mighty.

He turned back to look at me, smirk out in full force. "I guess it's time for you to find out where you'll be sleeping tonight," he told me in low voice as he leaned down to grab my hand right where I cut it to lift me up. I couldn't help the small hiss that escaped my lips which gave him satisfaction. Once I was up he quickly threw his arm around my waist as he bolted off the ground and up into the air.


	8. Chapter 8

The fact that I was flying would have seemed more amazing if it weren't for the fact that I was trying to balance holding onto my iPod as well as Peter – no way was I going to lose my one possession from home, but no way was I planning on dying either. I'm sure he was joyous over the fact that in order to make sure I wouldn't fall to my death that I had rolled myself into him. My front was facing his as I held onto his waist with my left arm while my right wound around his side and under his arm so that my hand was on his left shoulder. Not to mention that my face was buried into his chest and I was trying not to scream anytime he took a dip, turn, or did a loop.

"What, not having fun, princess?" he asked mockingly. _Arrogant prick._ I had no response, being this high up terrified me. Climbing trees was never an issue for me, but anytime I went on a plane I had to take medicine to knock me out before takeoff. Being that high in open air was a terrifying concept for me.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, we landed by a large tree. He let go of me, and I stumbled away from him in order to regain my balance. It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't wobble away while he gazed on enjoying every minute of it. "Do you feel better now that I don't?" I asked him accusingly. It was obvious he only did this because of the music thing.

"It certainly helps," he admitted. The laughter was still in his eyes as he walked over to the tree and pulled on a branch I hadn't noticed. The branch was a lever that had opened up a small doorway in the tree. "Ladies first," he said gesturing for me to go into the tree.

Biting back a comment about someone not being able to take a joke, I walked back over to the tree. Looking inside I saw the last thing I expected: stairs. I leaned back out to ask Peter about it, but he gave me a hard look. "Walk," he ordered.

I turned back around and walked down onto the stairs. It was dark and I couldn't see anything, so I took each step carefully. The stillness made me painfully aware of the breathing I could hear right behind me, a constant reminder of why I was here in the first place. _Well look at it this way. It's either going to be their secret hideout or a jail cell. You get to sleep in one of those places_.

After about 5 minutes of walking, I reached the bottom of the stairs. Then all that was in front of me was a panel. "A little help," I said after I couldn't figure out how to open it. Peter's throaty chuckle graced my ears as he leaned forward and brushed his hand over mine, finding the latch instantly and pushing the door open slightly. Through the doorway, I could see some light peering through.

Walking into the room, I realized it wasn't a jail cell. It was a bedroom for sure, but we weren't in a tree anymore either. Looking around, it seemed like we were in a dirt cave. The walls, floor, and ceiling were made of hard compact dirt. Torches were located a few places around the room. In one corner there was a large bed with lots of homemade blankets and pillows on it. In the opposite corner there was what looked to be a lounging chair carved from an old large tree trunk with a small bookcase located next to it.

"What do you think?" Peter's voice came from right behind my head. I was so focused on taking the small room in that I hadn't heard him come up behind me.

"Well, it's not the jail cell I expected to be taken to," I said jokingly. I hoped that if I tried to be teasing that maybe he'd let me off the hook.

"Now why would you have needed to be taken to any sort of a cell?" he asked. I could tell he was trying to get me to trap myself into a confession, so there went the hope of him forgetting.

"Look, I really am sorry about the volume mishap. Are you going to hold a grudge against me for that? For Christ's sake, you brought me to an island that I thought up until today had been a made up story, as well as you for that matter." I knew it was pointless, but trying to reason with him was the only strategy that I could think of at this time. "This thing," I said, holding up my iPod, "is the only thing that I have right now to ground myself in reality, to remind me about anything. If it makes you feel any better, it will eventually run out of battery power, and I won't be able to use it anymore. I'd give it another two or three days at most."

"You people actually buy something that will be of no good to you after a few days?" he asked, forgetting for a minute about the argument.

"Not exactly. If I were home I would be able to plug it into a charger. After a few hours of charging it's good as new," I explained knowing full well he wouldn't understand any of that explanation.

Peter nodded thoughtfully as he mulled the information over. "Fine. You can keep your contraption until it no longer works," he said. I was about to thank him, but then he added, "if you pass a little test first." The grin on his face would put the Cheshire Cat to shame.


	9. Chapter 9

"A test?" I asked dubiously. There was no way that this would be any normal sort of trivia test.

"Nothing outrageous, believe me," he smiled. His eyes had regained that mischievous gleam to them; one that I was sure was second nature to him.

"Alright then, so what's the test?" I questioned. _Might as well get it over with before he changes his mind._

"Oh, Kim, don't you see? It's not fair if I tell you the test."

I would have dropped my jaw if I'd been surprised by this, but it was becoming more and more apparent that he liked games far more than people. Instead I sighed and wondered what I had done to deserve this. First I find out Peter Pan is real. Next, I find out that Neverland exists. What next? Every Disney story comes to life?

"Whatever," I said dismissively. I was too tired to care at this point. "So what, is this the room I get to have or something?"

"Did I forget to tell you?" he asked like something completely slipped his mind. "This is my room."

I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to feel about that comment, I was so exhausted. "Lovely. If we're done talking now, can I go to sleep now? I'll just rest in that chair," I said pointing to the chair in the corner. Upon looking at it more closely, it looked like it might be the most uncomfortable makeshift bed in existence, so I had a feeling I would regret that decision in the morning.

"Neverland is your home now, Kim. I wouldn't make you sleep in that chair; it would make a terrible bed," Peter acknowledged. His facial expression now looked like he was a kid on Christmas about to get the best present. _Uh oh_… "And before you offer, no, you won't be sleeping on the ground either."

I wasn't stupid. I could put two and two together. _Are you kidding me? Sharing a bed? What has my life become?_ That's when I saw it. He looked like he was secretly waiting for me to protest him, like he knew that I would refuse that even if the result would be me getting back home. This was the test: go willingly or insist on doing something else. I know most people wouldn't give a second thought about caring about losing an iPod, but this was the last thing I had of home. It was the only thing I had to help me keep my sanity.

"Okay," I said like it was not a big decision even though I was trying not to panic.

"Really?" Peter asked, genuine surprise coming across his face. "I mean…good." He did his best to recover, but it wasn't enough to tell me that I had made the right observation about this being my test.

"If you don't mind though, I'll get in second," I said not wanting to admit to him that I was afraid if I had to take the side closest to the wall that I would feel too trapped and possibly have a panic attack. After seeing his eyes flick to the door for a second, I quickly added, "I also promise to not make a run for it. I wouldn't be able to escape anyway and honestly I'm so tired I would like to pass out now."

He searched my face looking for anything that would give him a doubt. Apparently finding none, he smirked as he sauntered past me.

_Lose the battle, win the war_, I reminded myself as I took a deep breath inward before following after him. I kicked off my shoes and stuck my iPod in them, placing them a little further away from the bed area just in case he or I were to step on it accidentally. When I looked back up at the bed, Peter was looking at me with victory shining through his eyes.

Before I subjected myself to an event I knew I'd later regret, I figured I had one last thing I should inform him about. "Look, there's something else I should tell you," I began. This immediately caused his eyes to narrow in suspicion making speed up my little speech. "It's nothing really bad. It's just…really try not to cross over the middle of the bed. I'll take half, you take half. It's even and fair. It's nothing personal and this is the same thing I ask of friends I have known for years if we have sleepovers. I just have some personal space issues." In my head I prayed that he could understand the sincerity of my words. _Please don't make me explain all of my weird anxieties to you._

Peter looked at me like I was a mystery again. Almost as if he was taking this information and cataloguing it in an encyclopedia all about me. He nodded his head as he took in the information.

I braced myself as I climbed on to the bed. It was bigger than mine; this was like a queen or king sized bed. _King based off his ego_. As soon as I climbed in, I scooted to the edge of the bed and getting as far away from Pan as I could.

"Do you always sleep with the lights on?" I asked. I'd fall asleep eventually, but they were a distraction keeping me focused on my current sleeping situation. His short laugh reverberated through the mattress forcing me to be aware of how close we were.

"No, I don't." And then all the lights immediately went out. I wasn't even able to ask my question before he answered it. "It's called magic, sweet heart," he drawled in a low voice.

Resisting retaliating to the "sweet heart" comment was taking all my strength, but I figured it was better to pick that battle after I found out if I passed Pan's stupid test. Rather than respond I just let out a loud sigh and closed my eyes waiting for sleep to come to me.


	10. Chapter 10

Sleep came fast enough. I was quickly aware that it was a dream if for no other reason than the fact that I was standing on a beach drenched in sun. From what I could tell, it was my go to spot I always went to when my family went on vacation to Florida. I walked to the long dock nearby and went to the end to settle on the edge dangling my feet in the clear water.

No one else was on the beach with me, so I was free to stare across the ocean with only the calls of birds and breeze to accompany me. This time I wasn't interested in thinking, so I just stared considering how beautiful the ocean could be.

"Interesting place for a dream," came a British voice behind me. I didn't have to turn around who it belonged to.

"Pan, do you have to invade my dream?" I asked, still refusing to look at him. The whole point of a dream world is to escape from life, not have it come crashing in. Maybe if I ignored him long enough, he'd disappear.

"No really, it's quite beautiful," he said coming to take a seat right next to me.

"Seriously, go away. I came here to be alone," I said allowing irritation to seep into my voice.

"Ah, but that's what makes you so interesting. You keep talking about how much you want to hold on to that music device to keep a reminder of your world, yet what do you dream about? I don't see any parents or friends here. Just you. Alone."

I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes. He was looking at me like a puzzle again.

"I don't know how you want me to respond to that," I admitted to him. "It's not like I control what my mind dreams about."

He mulled that over before hitting me with another question. "How often do you dream about this place then?"

_What is this, twenty questions?_ "I don't know. Often, I guess," I muttered quietly.

"You're a mystery to me, Kim," Peter confessed. I turned my head to fully look at him. He looked deep into my eyes like the answers to his questions would be there instead. "You're lost, there's no doubt about that."

"What do you mean I'm lost? Right now I'm in a dream, but even when I'm awake I know where I am."

"Yes, but there's something else," he said leaning closer to me like that would help. I was starting to get lost in his green eyes when I realized how close he had gotten to my face.

Flustered, I got up and started walking back to the beach. "Well, Pan, this has been a nice little chat, but it'd be great if you'd leave me to dream in peace."

"What are you talking about?" he asked like he had no idea what I was talking about. His voice was convincing, but his eyes revealed everything, as always.

"You're not a figment of my imagination and I don't know how you can do this thing, but get out," I told him, turning around to look him straight in the face.

"Well, color me impressed, Kimberly," he smirked at me. I could tell he was immensely enjoying annoying me in dream world as much as he did in real life.

Rolling my eyes, I turned back around and continued down the beach. As I walked, various songs were playing in my head. _Wait a minute_, I realized. Listening to music helps me tune out everything when I run; maybe if I get it loud enough in my mind, Pan will leave, too. The first band that came to my mind was Fall Out Boy. Anytime I thought of a song title, I forced it out of my head and to begin playing out loud.

Once about half a dozen songs were playing, I turned to see if my unwanted visitor was still with me. He was there alright, but he was grabbing his ears and glaring at me. He was trying to shout something at me, but I couldn't hear him from the distance. Instead, I smirked back at him and willed the music to grow louder.

The louder it got, the more he glared. Finally after another minute, he started to dematerialize until he was out of my dream completely.

Once he was gone, I smiled at my plan actually working for once. I continued to keep the music loud rather than risk him sneaking back into my dream. Rather than have them all be the same volume, I singled out one song and had the others lower to be more background noise.

For the rest of my walk around the beach, I sang to myself.

_Hey young blood. Doesn't it feel like our time is running out?  
I'm gonna change you like a remix; then I'll raise you like a phoenix.  
Wearing our vintage misery; no, I think it looked a little better on me.  
I'm gonna change you like a remix; then I'll raise you like a phoenix_.


	11. Chapter 11

Of course, nothing nice could last forever. Eventually I woke up to the pure black room I had left behind hours previously. I readjusted my head briefly getting ready to go for a short nap before fully getting up.

Apparently that was my mistake.

"Have a good dream?" came the voice of my companion.

I sighed, closing my eyes even though he couldn't see my face anyway. "It got a lot better after you got out of it," I blurted out before I could think through an actual response.

His hand pulled the blankets just slightly reminding me of the exact situation I was in. "Was it?" he asked tightly.

"I played songs in my head and I didn't think and I was alone. It worked out pretty well," I responded. "Speaking of, why did you sneak into my dream?" I was sure that asking how he did it would end in a reasoning of just magic.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

_Terrible lie_, I thought, observation skills kicking in. "Nice try, Pan. Your hand twitch and the angry 'Was it?' have already given away whatever lie you were going to try to pull on me," I informed him. I could just feel him glaring holes into the back of my head.

Minutes silently passed by and he still hadn't said anything. Sitting around in the dark all day wasn't my idea of a good day. I started to roll more toward the edge getting ready to get up.

Rather than let me up, Peter grabbed my arm causing me to stop my movements entirely. "And where do you think you're going?" he whispered hotly in my ear as he leaned in close.

Swallowing hard, I gathered what courage I could grasp this early in the morning. "This conversation is clearly going nowhere and I don't feel like wasting time trying to force it to happen. I was going to put on my shoes and go for a run on that beach I saw yesterday."

"Go then," he said emotionlessly, immediately releasing his hold on me.

Feeling my way over to my shoes, I felt my iPod still there meaning I been right about the test. Tying the last lace I stood up trying to locate where the door would be, but I couldn't see anything in the dark. "A little light so I can see the door at least?" I asked although I assumed he'd rather just laugh at me trying to find the door in the dark. _Little prick probably has night vision with all his magic_.

Not even thirty seconds later and the torches had lit up again. Blinking a few times as my eyes readjusted to the light, I could now see Peter leaning against the wall by the door.

"You don't know where the beach is from here," he reminded me as I passed through the door.

"You're right, I don't," I agreed. "But I have a sneaky suspicion that I have time to wander around and find it." Hearing no rebuttal from the island's leader, I continued my way up the stairs.

Exiting the hole in the tree told me that the sky was still dark out, so I still had no idea what time it was or how long I may have slept. I stood for a minute listening for any sound of water, but couldn't hear anything. Sighing, I headed off in the direction that I hoped would lead me to the beach. As long as it got me away from Peter and the Lost Boys, I didn't really care.


	12. Chapter 12

I gazed out at the black sea in triumph. "It only took me an hour and a half to get here, but I did it," I said to myself. _I should criticize myself for talking to myself, but I don't even know what defines craziness anymore. _Of all the fictional things from my life to turn out being real, Doctor Who couldn't have been one of them? If I had seen that blue box and sonic screwdriver, I would have said yes to leaving in a heartbeat. _It beats living here for God knows how long_.

Knowing where that train of thought was going to lead, I pulled out my iPod to find my winter playlist. Some people prefer to listen to pop songs to work out to, but I find just as good beats in alternative bands. _Hell Above…How appropriate considering it got me a pissed off leader. Accurate enough title though_. Putting the headphones in my ear, I tuned everything out and took off running.

What I didn't realize was that there were two pairs of eyes following me.

**On a cliff above the beach**

He stood in the shade of a tree watching as she ran in long loops around the beach.

"Pan, what are we doing watching the new girl exactly?" Felix asked, voice dripping in boredom.

"There's something strange about this girl," Peter responded, not bothering to spare Felix a look. "She heard the music last night, you know? But she said that it sounded unpleasant. Have any guesses as to why that could happen?"

"Not a clue," Felix said. He started playing with the club he had brought, not at all interested in Kim's problems. "I'm guessing you have a theory on it."

Watching her running on the beach, Peter could feel her determination not to think about anything. _She has a powerful mind if last night was any proof. And a personality to match_. Not that he enjoyed thinking about either. No one had ever forced him out of a dream before and he could barely admit to himself that he enjoyed her spitfire personality.

"The question, Felix, is how can someone on this island be lost, but not lost completely?"

Unsurprised when Felix chose not to respond, Peter continued to watch Kim running on the beach. _How much stamina does she have to run? She's been at it for two hours_, he thought while allowing himself to be impressed. Her attitude at coming to Neverland was different from the Lost Boys who came before her. They were all excited and couldn't wait to come, but she was still resisting even though it was clear she belonged. Clear to everyone but her at least.

"You're dismissed," Peter said to Felix as she came to a stop on the beach.

Glancing down at the girl before looking to his leader, Felix nodded and smirked to himself as he left. "Have a nice chat," he wished to Peter as he headed back to camp. No one could stand against Neverland or Peter's magic forever, and the determination to end her resistance was evident in his eyes.

Peter vanished from his spot and reappeared under the dark shadows of the trees as close to her as he could get. _Time to gather more information_, he thought to himself as he watched her curiously.


	13. Chapter 13

The endless ebb and flow of the sea had a calming affect that I needed after the longest run I'd taken in a while. Still breathing hard, I knew I needed to start stretching unless I wanted sore muscles for the next few days. _Lord knows I'm going to be sore enough walking all over this stupid island_.

While stretching, I started humming along with"Alone Together" as it started. _How fitting_, I thought as the lyrics began pouring through my headphones. Sitting down on the beach to stretch my legs more, I started singing softly under my breath.

"Cause I don't know where you're going, but do you have room for one more troubled soul. I don't know where I'm going, but I don't think I'm coming home. And I said I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead. This is the road to ruin, and we're starting at the end."

That moment is when the truth hit me like a ton of bricks. _I'm not going back. I won't be checking in tomorrow._ _This is it. I am stuck….in Neverland_.

Whatever calm I had held onto until this point left me entirely. The gravity of the situation was taking over and it was all I could think about. My brain latched onto the thought of being stuck and it was quickly plummeting down a dark path I had no choice but to be on. My eyes lost their focus, tears forming and brimming at the edge of my eyelids. Breathing became harder to control and it sped up. _Stop. You can't do this. Not here. There is no one to help you out of it. Just yourself_. My pep talk was failing though; I couldn't stop what I was feeling.

Ten minutes of shaking passed before I could do anything at all. It was then that music pierced through my thoughts. I started singing along quietly and still shaky, but it had pulled me out of my panic slightly – I had to hold onto it.

"B-B-B-Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark  
Can't be sure when they've hit their mark  
And besides in the mean, mean time  
I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart."

Tears stopped falling from my eyes at this point. Feeling a little more confident, I started singing louder. I didn't care if anyone might hear me or if I sounded any good or not; it's not as though anyone would care.

"I'm in the de-details with devil  
So now the world can never get me on my level  
I just gotta get you off the cage  
I'm a young lover's rage  
Gonna need a spark to ignite.  
My songs know what you did in the dark  
So light 'em up, up, up  
Light 'em up, up, up  
Light 'em up, up, up  
I'm on fire  
So light 'em up, up, up  
Light 'em up, up, up  
Light 'em up, up, up  
I'm on fire."

Taking a couple deep breaths, I stood up again and gazed around the beach. The waters continued to beat around the shore and everything seemed calm. Except, that is, for the eerie feeling I had that someone was watching me.

"Writers keep writing what they write  
Somewhere another pretty vein just died  
I've got scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see  
That you're the antidote to everything except for me, me"

Looking into the trees behind me, I noticed an area that looked darker than the other shady areas. I continued singing as I stared, figuring that whoever was standing there would come out knowing that I had found them.

"A constellation of tears on your lashes  
Burn everything you love, then burn the ashes  
In the end everything collides  
My childhood spat back out the monster that you see."

Ironically, or maybe not, Pan walked out of the trees at the point. Making his way toward me, I held his gaze letting him know that he wasn't going to intimidate me into backing down.

"My songs know what you did in the dark  
So light 'em up, up, up  
Light 'em up, up, up  
Light 'em up, up, up  
I'm on fire  
So light 'em up, up, up  
Light 'em up, up, up  
Light 'em up, up, up  
I'm on fire."

The rest of the song played out in my headphones while the staring contest continued. This time I refused to be the one to break the silence or look away. I kept my face blank, but there were too many emotions swimming in his eyes for me to decipher any of them.

"Is it true?" he asked suddenly.

"Is what true?" I asked back. _Seriously, dude, I'm not a mind reader_.

"That your songs know what someone does in the dark?"

"Why? Is there something you want to admit?" I accused. Whether it was a serious question or not, a small laugh escaped my mouth at the absurdity of the thought. "Sorry, sorry," I said seeing that my laughter already was getting me in a negative place. "No. As far as I know, songs have never had the ability to grant knowledge to the listener. The lyrics were just that: words." Explaining modern day concepts was something I would never get used to.

Despite what I thought was a perfectly good explanation, he was still frowning at me with narrowed eyes. The moonlight shined on his face casting stark shadows in contrast with his pale skin. _He'd be more handsome if he would give up leering at people all the time_, I thought to myself before I truly thought about what I said. _Nooope. Nopity nope. We're not going to think about how cute Peter Pan may or may not be because above all he is the worst._

Lost in my own thoughts, I hadn't realized the smirk had returned to Peter's face. "Looking good right now, by the way," he said tauntingly, seemingly done worrying about songs and their lyrics.

I could only imagine how I looked: bangs sticking to my head with sweat, sand clinging to my pants, puffy eyes from crying, and face red from the exhaustion of exercising and worry. "Can't look any worse than boys who live on an island without showers," I shot back. Unfortunately it came out less like an insult and more like a joke. _No, there is no becoming friends with him either_, I tried to remind myself.

Thankfully the conversation dropped after that. "Come on," he said turning back toward the trees. "Time to head back to camp. You've had enough alone time for today." I had to run to catch up with him after taking one last long look at the sea.


	14. Chapter 14

_Maybe we should have flown back_, I thought as we were still walking through the trees half an hour later. Even as I thought it, I knew I would rather walk for a full day than take a flying adventure with Pan again. My legs had definitely gotten tired after that long workout though.

Not paying attention to where I was walking, I almost yelped as Peter spoke up. "Stop," he commanded. In doing so, I realized I was about to walk into a giant thorn bush.

"You have rose bushes on this island?" I asked confused. I wasn't aware that roses grew in tropical climates.

"No, this is Dreamshade. There is a poison that covers the entire plant," he explained. "Even the tiniest prick is fatal. The poison spreads through your body until it reaches your heart."

"Poison plant. Got it," I said grimly. Of course there had to be poisonous plants on the island, and I hadn't thought to ask about any before I went traipsing through it earlier today. Barely sparing me a glance, Peter carried on through the trees on whatever path we were on to get back to camp. However, this time I kept my eyes peeled for any signs of the Dreamshade plant.

Twenty minutes later and we finally broke through to the small clearing with the fire pit in it from the previous night. I hadn't realized I was getting cold until I stood next to the fire. _Probably a side effect of walking with the Ice Man for an extended period of time_, I joked with myself.

Noticing Jack sitting by himself, I made my way over to him. I wouldn't consider him a friend necessarily, but he was the only person who had been nice to me at all the entire time. _If you also ignore the one time last night Pan was genuine with you and when he made Jack find a bandage cloth_, part of me tried to reason.

Shaking my head slightly to get that thought out of my head, I took a seat next to Jack. "Hey," I smiled at him.

"Hello," he said with the same kindness I received last night. "Where have you been this morning?"

"I went to a beach to run laps for a while," I told him. "Running helps me think."

"I can understand that. I know it sounds horrible, but sharpening and fixing the bows and arrows can be relaxing for me," he said laughing at himself.

"It's not so crazy," I reassured him. It felt nice to have a semi-normal conversation with someone rather than being stuck with my thoughts.

"How's your cut?" Jack asked looking down at my hand. Truth be told, I hadn't thought about it since yesterday; it still stood as a reminder as the truth of this whole place.

I tried picking the knot out with my fingers, but I was having a difficult time because of how tight it was tied. "Here, let me help," Jack said. I was about to protest and keep going when he laid his large hand on top of mine. "Please," he said.

Sighing, but nodding my head I pulled down my right hand and extended my left hand to him. Despite his hands being large and calloused, he gently pried apart the knot until the whole bandage was off. The small cut was barely visible at this point.

"Thanks," I told him. He smiled and nodded his response, looking behind him for his bag to place the cloth in. Taking this time to look around, I noticed Pan just staring at the two of us with no emotion on his face. To be honest, him with no expression worried me more than anytime I had seen a troubling gleam in his eyes or when he circled me.

At our eyes meeting, he snapped out of it and stood up on one of the logs. "Boys!" he called to the group. "It's time to go on trap checks. Everyone is coming except Alex and Colin. You two are to stay here with Kim." Once he was finished, he stepped down off the log.

As the other boys were gathering whatever supplies were necessary for a "trap check", I walked over to Peter to question him. "Are you seriously leaving me behind to babysit?" I asked.

"Do you really want to go?" Peter asked after barking out a laugh. Seeing I had no response, he sneered at me. "I thought not. And no, you are not staying here to babysit. On the contrary, they are being kept behind to watch you."

I was fuming, but he brushed past me before I could say anything. He and the boys going on the trip headed out on the other side of the fire where I was from. While the rest of them ignored me, Jack gave me a small wave which I returned. I shot Peter one last glare into the back of his head and then they were all gone.

Turning to see who Alex and Colin were, I quickly noticed two twelve year olds looking through a sword pile. _Great_, I thought. _Just what I wanted. To be left behind with children_.


	15. Chapter 15

"Rupert and Kellan, check the North end. Heath, Arthur, and Leo, check the East traps. Brandon and Mark, go to the South. Felix, Jack, and I are going to check the traps on the West," Peter informed the group. Everyone nodded heading off in their respective destinations.

Ten minutes later found the three oldest boys coming up to a large grove of trees where there were several hidden traps on the ground. Before they could get too far in, Jack turned to the other two boys. "Would you like to explain the real reason for calling this impromptu trap check?" he asked casually to Peter only to be met with a leveled look.

"Are you saying that checking the status on our traps is unimportant?" he challenged.

"Not at all, but you can cut the act now. I know this is about Kim."

"Now why would I need to talk to you about Kim?" Peter asked as though it was a foreign idea. If it weren't for the fact that Felix was grinning over the prospect of a fight, Jack might have believed him.

"Look, if you're concerned that I might be developing feelings for her, you don't need to say anything to me. I'm not interested in her."

"Could have fooled me. You looked pretty chummy by the fire before we left," he accused with narrowed eyes. Pan had been walking in circles around Jack that kept getting smaller each time.

"I was asking about her morning and helped her remove the bandage on her finger," he explained. "Besides, she was reluctant to letting me help her, so I don't think you need to be concerned about her preferring me over you."

It was a poor joke to make as it resulted in Jack being shoved against a nearby tree with an unseen pressure keeping him against the tree. Peter was standing in front of him with a look of fury on his face. "And just what," he asked in a measured voice, "are you implying by that?"

"Nothing," Jack gasped against the pressure. "Nothing. I apologize." The pressure left as quickly as it had appeared and Jack fell to his knees trying to collect his breath before he stood up. Looking up he saw Peter's smug expression and Felix's mirthful look like this was the most exciting thing he'd seen all week.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," he repeated. "She needs someone to talk to, though."

At this, Peter cocked his head to the side, smirk still on his face. "Interesting thought considering she spent her morning alone," he pointed out.

"I know, and I don't blame her. It's going to take her a while to adjust to a place she clearly never knew existed before," Jack continued pointing out, hoping his explanation wouldn't be met with being shoved against a tree again. "She's hardly been able to meet anyone. You poke at her with questions then get mad at her for pulling a prank on you when all you do is live for games. We're the ones who look closest to her in age, and it's not like Felix is the most welcoming person in the world. I'm just trying to show her some kindness that she may not be able to find on the rest of the island."

Peter gazed at Jack like he was looking for any sign of deception, but knew his friend would only ever tell him the truth. Lying to him was the biggest mistake someone could make on this island.

"Fine. But you're the one who needs to think about what you're doing," Peter said, letting an unspoken statement pass between them. Clapping his hands, he turned and maneuvered skillfully around the traps hidden on the ground, further ending the conversation. Felix and Jack followed quietly along behind him.


	16. Chapter 16

"So….what do you guys normally do if you have to stay behind?" I asked Alex and Colin. It had been only five minutes since the rest of the boys left and I was already bored out of my mind.

"I dunno," one of them said shrugging his shoulders and refusing to make eye contact. The two boys looked so similar I couldn't remember who was who.

Both had long brown hair that came down to the back of their necks with shaggy bangs that fell into their eyes. They were both around the same height and their faces were dirty, but the firelight showed dark, tanned skin beneath it. _I wonder if you keep whatever skin tone you came on the island with. I haven't seen a speck of sunshine since getting here_. The only difference was in their eyes. One had midnight blue eyes and the other had hazel eyes.

"Ignore Alex, he's shy," Colin explained. "It depends on the day. Sometimes we'll practice sword fighting or sharpen some leftover weapons or we'll wrestle."

_Truly living with kids in_ Lord of the Flies_,_ I thought to myself. "Would you want to practice swords?" Alex asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Not today. I ran for a long time earlier today, and I'm pretty tired from that," I admitted to the two. Alex's face looked a little crestfallen and he moved a little further away putting some distance between us. _Good going. Scare off the kid why don't you_…

"Do you guys ever tell stories?" I asked them.

"Made up stories? No, not really. We'll all share stories about animals that we found or how events of games we played went, though," Colin said.

"Well, back where I'm from, people are always telling stories to each other. Made up ones, too, and not always told around a fire," I told them, hoping I wouldn't have to explain the concept of a movie or TV. "I could tell you one of those."

Alex and Colin looked at each other, then shrugged their shoulders. "Sure," Alex said. "They're going to be gone for a long time if they check even half the traps," Colin explained further.

"Okay, it's settled then!" I said cheerily. _Better stick away from Disney stories lest any of those also be true. Now's my opportunity to relive Doctor Who I guess_. "Why don't you two sit down, my story is going to be awhile."

They took a seat on a log, turning to face me while I took a seat on a close stump.

"I'm going to tell you the story about a man named the Doctor. He's from a planet called Gallifrey, and the people on that planet are called Time Lords. They are aliens who have two hearts and can travel through time," I began.

"How can someone travel through time?" Colin asked looking like that was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.

"If you'll be quiet, I'll get to that," I said giving him a pointed look. He gave me a half smile in apology and I continued. "Like I was saying, he's an alien. Time Lords also have the special ability to cheat death – for a while at least. If they ever get mortally wounded, their body will start a process called regeneration. That means that instead of dying like you or I would, they turn into a new person instead. Except they aren't really a new person, but they can get a new body, mind, and voice, and they have all the memories from their previous life. But they can only regenerate 12 times before they die for good." Alex's eyes were bugging out of his head at the idea and Colin looked confused as he was trying to keep track of all the information.

"Anyway, the Doctor travels in a big blue box called the TARDIS which is about this big," I explained trying to gesture with my hands. "On one side it has a door. When you enter through the door, you are amazed because you are then standing in a giant room. That's the secret of the TARDIS: it's bigger on the inside. In the center of that main room is a giant cylinder that contains all of the time energy that the Doctor uses to travel through space and time."

"You're lying! There's no way that could exist!" Colin exclaimed.

"I am not lying! That's how the story goes. And besides, it's a story. I don't know that the Doctor exists," I told him.

"Anyhow, the Doctor is able to travel anywhere through time and space using the TARDIS. But he doesn't just travel, he goes around saving people. He's saved humans loads of times, but he also saves other aliens.

"The Doctor is also the last Time Lord. His people were part of a great Time War with their biggest enemy, the Daleks. The Doctor found a way to stop the Daleks, but it was a difficult decision to go through because it meant he had to destroy his own people, too. In the end, he decided that it had to happen, but the guilt he felt is what makes him go to save other people." Both boys were looking at me somberly, understanding the gravity of the situation as though they had been there.

"But let me tell you about one of my favorite stories about the Doctor," I started. "The Doctor went to a planet that a ship had crashed onto, and he was there with his companion, Amy Pond. I should also mention that the Doctor will travel with people called companions so that he can have company as he travels. So, on this planet with the crashed ship he meets up with a group of people who were investigating the crash. There's a lady with this group whose name is River Song, and she seems to know the Doctor really well while he hasn't met her very much. Together, the group enters a large cavern, and that's when things start to get interesting."

I did my best to remember all the details from the episode, but I was sure I forgot a few things. Whatever I forgot, I made up in acting out various parts of the story. Talking about the Weeping Angels and how they functioned seemed to set the boys on edge, but their eyes were shining with excitement begging to know what would happen next. I had just gotten to the part where one of the investigation troopers had been killed by the angels when the group of boys started trickling back to the campsite.

"Sorry boys, I think we're going to end there for tonight," I told them.

"No!," they whined. Alex ran up to me grabbing onto my arm. "But what's going to happen now?!" he looked at me with the biggest eyes and more expression on his face than I had seen all night.

"I'll let you in on a little secret, okay? The Doctor is very clever," I whispered to him with a wink and smiling widely. Rubbing his head affectionately, I sent him back over to where Colin was standing with a few of the other boys doing his best to relate the story I had just told him.

Because I was watching the boys, I missed the look Jack gave to Peter. All I did see when I looked at the older boys was Felix looking disinterested, Jack grinning at me, and Peter staring in contemplation.


	17. Chapter 17

I sat back down on my stump as the boys got resettled around the camp. Looking at the nature around me reminded me of the second half of the episode I was telling Alex and Colin. Even though I knew Weeping Angels weren't real, I would still always be paranoid of them randomly showing up out of nowhere.

The sound of a body plopping down next to me brought me out of my thoughts with a slight yelp from me. I looked up to see Jack who was laughing lightly at me, naturally.

"How was your little expedition?" I asked him as my heart rate came down.

"Oh, you know," he responded as if that explained everything. "I'm more interested in learning how you coaxed that much excitement out of Alex. He's the shyest kid in the entire group and he was clinging to you for dear life."

"I was telling him a story from my world. The answer is no, by the way," I told him.

"What do you mean, 'No'?" he asked.

"I figured you'd ask me to repeat the story to you, and the answer is no. The two of them asked enough questions in the middle of my retelling, and it took me 45 minutes to get even a third of the way through. You're not special enough to make me repeat the process," I joked.

He chuckled and turned away to look into the fire, the two of us falling into a comfortable silence. I had really only been on the island for about a day, but it felt nice to know that I might be forming a friendship with someone here. _Speaking of being here_… I glanced up to see Peter watching us with a blank expression, not even trying to hide his stare.

"Hey, Jack. Is there any particular reason we're under watch right now?" I asked him nodding my head in Peter's direction.

"Hm? Oh, sometimes he does that," Jack said like it was the most obvious fact. "The question is, why were you looking at him?"

"Maybe because the feeling of someone watching you for an extended amount of time is not the most comforting thing," I said.

"If you say so," he said shrugging his shoulders.

"Would you like to explain your implication there?" I asked with a roll of my eyes.

Jack just laughed, refusing to take the bait of making a comeback. Looking back, Pan was still staring at me. _Take a picture, it'll last longer_, I thought. _So many of my jokes are wasted on this island_. His concentration was finally broken by a few of the boys walking over to him to talk about something I couldn't hear from my place. He nodded in approval of whatever it was, and then I saw the boys leave into the bushes to get something. Not even a minute later, the boys came back carrying what looked to be a wild boar between them.

"Oh my God, what is that?" I asked, eyes fixed on the boys laying down the creature.

"Dinner," a new voice said behind me.

I jumped, spinning around to see Peter standing behind me barely constraining a laugh. "Was that completely necessary?" I asked sitting back down.

"I was satisfied with the results," he said as he took a seat next to Jack. The firelight reflected off his eyes making the laughter in them seem alive.

Sighing loudly, I rubbed my face into my hands. _Does no one understand a rhetorical question around here or does Pan just like annoying me?_ I didn't really need to answer that myself, knowing the answer was the latter.

That's when I heard it. The sound of a knife being drawn and stuck into something soft. Glancing back toward the boar, I saw that one of the boys, _Seriously, learn their names,_ sticking a knife into the boar beginning to skin it. _NOPE_, _absolutely not_, I thought turning around in my seat to face the forest, ignoring both the boys chuckling at my discomfort.

"Come on, Kim, it's not that bad," Jack tried to convince me. "I thought you didn't mind the sight of blood," Peter added, clearly referencing the pin prick.

"Blood and the inside of an animal are two _very_ different things," I said in defense. "If this is going to last a long time, just let me know when it's time to eat." Closing my eyes, I rested my head on my hands. After shutting my eyes, I realized how exhausted I was from the morning of running and trekking and storytelling.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I was being nudged gently on the shoulder. Opening my eyes slowly, I noticed the large piece of meat on a tick being extended to me. "Thanks," I said turning to look at the person who gave it to me. I was surprised to find it was Pan giving me my share of dinner. Realizing who gave it to me, I looked questioningly between the food and Peter a few times. _Who knows what he's done to it_.

"Would you relax, there's nothing wrong with it," he said annoyed at my distrust. I glanced at Jack, who gave a small nod showing that Peter was telling the truth. "Really? You needed confirmation? I don't lie all the time."

"Emphasis on 'all,'" I said. He looked like he was going to get mad at me again until I took a bite of the food and gave him a smirk indicating that I was joking. _At least partially_, I thought. He clearly had too many secrets.

Smirking in satisfaction, he walked away toward another group of boys who had already started playing with swords again after finishing their food. I looked back to the fire finishing off my food, not completely aware of the fact that I was becoming more comfortable in this place.


	18. Chapter 18

After dinner, I just sat around silently observing everyone. Even though they were as different as night and day, Felix and Jack had moved off to talk to a couple other boys. Peter and five other boys were still fighting each other with swords, Peter blocking everything that was thrown his way. I was about to move my attention elsewhere when his eyes caught mine. The ever relentless smirk found its way back to his face and I rolled my eyes before looking away.

Doing so made me notice my two new buddies walk up to me slowly. "Kim, we know you said no more of the Doctor story tonight," Alex started looking down at his feet. "But we were wondering if you would tell us more? Even if it's just a little bit. Pleaseeee," Colin whined.

They were too adorable to deny, but I acted like I had to really think about it anyway. I didn't have any siblings of my own, but I always loved talking to my friend Taylor's younger ones.

"Well," I considered, "I guess I could tell you a little more if that's what you want." High fiving each other in excitement, they sank straight to the ground to get ready to listen to more of the story. "Now where did I leave off exactly?"

"With Bop!" they exclaimed.

"Right, right, right. Poor Bop. Well not only did that happen to Bop, but then the Doctor realized they were in more trouble than they thought…" I went on to describe how there wasn't just one rogue angel on the loose, but many more were being formed. Explaining how the Doctor and the rest of the people tried escaping from the angels was difficult, but the boys took it in stride. As I was telling the story, some of the other boys came over to sit next to Alex and Colin. Eventually everyone except Jack, Peter, and Felix were sitting in front of me listening to the story; the three of them stood in the back still just as focused.

Reaching the point where the Doctor had to leave Amy behind with a few of the soldiers, I finally told the boys I had to stop telling the story. Disappointed shouts entered my ears, and I laughed at how adamantly they demanded I finished. "I promise you that I'll finish the story," I said looking down at them. "It's just not going to be tonight. I am too tired to keep talking." Despite my earlier nap before dinner, the day and hours of talking had taken its toll on me.

Some of the boys still tried to protest, but it was hard to believe considering they yawning and rubbing their eyes tiredly. My attention was drawn away from them when I noticed Jack nudge Pan in the arm. After sending him a small glare, Peter turned back to the boys and cleared his throat to gather their attention.

"Obviously you all are tired. It's time to head to bed."

Next thing I knew, Alex was poking my arm. "You're coming with us tonight, right?" he asked. Looking over to Peter, I raised my eyebrow in question knowing he could hear his question over the distance. Gaining a smug look on his face, he barely nodded his head in confirmation. Once I turned back to Alex, I nodded smiling.

Dragging me away, we started quickly walking through the forest away from the fire. After roughly ten minutes of begging him to slow down we finally made it to a massive tree. Its base had to be at least 7 feet wide, and it went into the air at least 60 feet with large branches sticking out all over the place. Showing me the specific vine to pull to open the door, Alex headed inside the tree first and I followed close behind him.

There was another staircase that went down into the ground, but this time there were what I assumed to be magical lights in the hallway because there was a dim glow to guide the way. Walking down the steps revealed a large doorway. Alex stopped and opened it only to reveal a long hallway that was littered with doors spread far apart. "Here's my room," he said when we reached the third door on the left. I stood in the doorway as he walked in which revealed a new surprise. The room wasn't large by any means and had more of the glowing lights. A small bed was placed in the corner, but there were also what seemed like skylights in the ceiling. Looking up, I saw that there were very small holes placed around the dirt ceiling that must have been covered above ground by sticks or leaves because the light of the moon cast their shadow on the ground. _Small, but cozy_.

"So where am I supposed to stay?" I asked even though I wasn't sure Alex would know.

"I'll show you," came a voice behind me.

Spinning around with eyes widened in surprise, I found the source of the voice. "Do you find the need to do that every time, Pan?" I asked. Silent sneaking was starting to get old.

"Why would I stop? The result is so consistently great," he teased. "Now come on."

Wishing Alex a good night, I followed Peter up until we reached the seventh door on the right. Peter stepped to the side, gesturing for me to open the door. It was nearly identical to Alex's room with the exception of a small, slightly dirtied mirror hanging on the wall near the door.

"Is this room a one-time sort of thing?" I asked him, turning around. I just wanted to be absolutely clear about room arrangements, tired of trying to guess his games.

"If you preferred last night's arrangements, it doesn't even have to happen one time," he said winking.

Rolling my eyes, I turned back around and headed to the bed to take off my shoes. "Bye, Pan," I said with the wave of my hand. I heard his chuckle as he closed the door and walked away before I lay down to enjoy a night of dreamless sleep.


	19. Chapter 19

"Time to get up, princess," came Peter's muffled voice. Between post-waking up grogginess and the barrier of the door I had hoped I was imagining I heard someone talk. I buried my head in my pillow in hopeful denial. _Just because some of the boys are warming up to me doesn't mean I really want to go start a new day on Neverland right now_. Burying my head back into my pillow, I pretended like it was an annoying voice in my head. "If you don't get up now, I'll come in there and get you up myself."

"Couldn't you get the hint that I was ignoring you?" I shouted back grumpily as I sat up in bed. Quickly throwing my hair in a messy bun and putting my shoes on, I walked over to my door to open it and glare at him.

Peter leaned next to the door with that smug smile on his face. "Be careful. Saying things like that could have some consequences."

"Your little followers may not talk back to you, but you don't scare me," I shot back.

"We'll see about that," he chuckled darkly.

"Did you wake me up just to be annoying or were you just wanting to have a chat by my door?" I asked while rolling my eyes.

"We can move it into your room if you want," Pan said with a suggestive tone. I just looked at him blankly waiting for him to get to the point. "Fine, come on," he sighed heading down the stairs.

"And what's keeping me from going back to my room to sleep?" I asked as he disappeared from view.

"Because I would drag you out this tree myself," came a matter-of-fact voice.

Learning that fact caused me to slowly follow along behind. I could handle not being physically moved by Pan for a while. "Is there something going on today?" I asked hoping that I would be able to go explore more today. Getting no response, I walked out the door and back into the forest nearly screaming as a club missed the side of my face by half an inch.

"Dude, what the hell?! You almost hit me!" I yelled at Felix not noticing Peter was nowhere to be found.

"I know, I missed," he smirked as he lifted his club up to swing again.

Rushing past him, I headed to the area I thought the fire had been in last night. A few minutes later I could hear the voices of the other Lost Boys and headed to the direction. When I crashed through the bushes surrounding the fire pit area I stopped straight in my tracks. Every one of them was fighting each other with some sort of hand weapon. Knowing Felix would be getting here any minute, I quickly slammed my back against the nearest tree and prayed no one else would notice my panicked face.

If any of the other boys noticed me, they didn't acknowledge me. Not that they would notice much of anything; they seemed to be enjoying their own little battles against each other if the laughter was any indicator. Each boy's movements flowed seamlessly into the other as they constantly switched between sparing partners. They all looked so childish in their enjoyment. Even Jack and a few of the other older boys looked like they were in kindergarten again playing make-believe sword fighting except now they could actually hurt each other if someone landed a blow now.

A loud blow to the tree I was leaning on brought me out of my contemplation. Spinning around, I saw Felix was slowly moving closer like a cat about to catch a mouse. Keeping him in my peripheral vision, I tried to maneuver around the fire without getting hit with any other flying weapons. I was putting good distance between us until I could look at him from directly across the fire pit. _Home free. I just have to keep him straight across the fire and try not to get hit by anyone else. Shouldn't be too difficult_, I thought sarcastically until a hand grabbed my left wrist and pulled it painfully behind my back while using their right hand to bring a small blade up to my throat. I silently struggled to get out of the mystery person's grasp without causing the blade to cut my skin, but it wasn't working out well.

"Ah, ah, ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you, princess," whispered Peter in my ear. Everyone had stopped their fighting and were watching us now with careful faces. Well, except Felix. He was lazily walking around the boys making his way closer to me.

"Enough with the princess," I spat. "Let go of me."

"Not quite yet," he said, pulling my arm tighter. Already breathing heavily, I tried to keep my pain internalized, but a small grunt left me anyway. "I told you your words might have consequences."

"What, like letting your lackey bash my skull in?" I asked watching Felix not five feet away now. Hearing the word "lackey" Felix scowled in annoyance. _I call 'em like I see 'em, Scarface_. But Pan said nothing, so I had to assume the worst.

Now standing right in front of me, Felix raised his club like he was going to strike. I closed my eyes because I didn't feel like witnessing my own death and waited for the inevitable. The next thing I knew is that the club had landed with a loud thump in front of my feet and Peter had released me from his hold. My ears were met with the laughter all of the boys as if they knew that nothing was going to happen in the first place. _Wait a minute…_

"This was all done on purpose," I accused as I turned to look at Pan.

"Of course it was," he laughed. I could see how much he enjoyed my misery in his eyes. "But it wouldn't have been fun if you'd _known_ that you wouldn't get hurt."

"Wouldn't get hurt?" I asked lowly. "This idiot over here almost hit me with his oversized tree branch three times, you practically dislocated my shoulder, and held a knife against my throat. Do you think this is some sort of game?"

"Yes," Peter responded with a smirk looking me straight in the eye.

"You're sick," I muttered under my breath. Seething with barely constrained rage and shaking slightly as my brain continued to process all the incoming information, I stormed past Peter, Felix, and any of the other nameless boys who were between me and the jungle.

Before I could get far, Peter grabbed my arm and pulled me back to face him. "And where do you think you're going exactly?" he asked amused.

"Away," I bit out.

At that he barked out a short laugh. "You couldn't even handle this. What will you do if you come across someone else?"

"I don't care. Anywhere and anyone have to be better than here and you," I whispered lowly, glaring. Yanking my arm out of his hand, I continued into the forest without even a glance backward.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Peter asked the boys, his voice fading as I moved farther away. "Let's get back to it!" All I could hear as I was leaving was the sound of clanging weapons and laughing boys.


	20. Chapter 20

Stumbling away from the campsite, my mind kept replaying the events that had just happened over and over on a constant loop. Now that I was away from any of the boys, but especially Pan, I couldn't stop my body from shaking as fear replaced any adrenaline I had felt in the moment. Maybe I wouldn't have gotten seriously injured, but that didn't stop Felix, Peter, or anyone else from nearly hurting me. The distance couldn't make me stop thinking about the fact that if I had gotten hurt that I had no one to take care of me. There were no doctors or hospitals or clinics. No one to care if I got hurt. No one who would know.

Taking a seat on a large moss covered rock, I tried to calm down my shaking and breathing by taking slow breaths. Despite taking the break from walking, I still had little control over my body. _Think. Come on, think,_ I tried to get through to overactive mind. Thinking I might be able to distract myself by looking around, I was surprised to find that I was by a small stream since I hadn't heard any bubbling water over my loud breathing. Getting off my rock and walking over to it, I fell to my knees to peer down. The water seemed clear; the small pebbles below were visible. Dipping my hands into the cool water, I flicked it back toward my face a few times.

With the distraction of cold water dripping down my face, I began following the stream as it traveled downward. Briefly remembering what I had learned about the water cycle in school, I knew that the stream would either end in a lake or back in the ocean surrounding the island. My shaking calmed down the more I walked by the river, but it was proving more difficult to move past what happened during the "play" fights.

Trying to work through everything that happened, there was no way to know how long I walked next to the stream. I only realized I had reached its end when the stream trickled off into a small cove that had large rocks in and around it. Heading to the end of the sandy beach, I fell to the ground so that the water ended an inch away from my feet. Even though there were no oceans near where I lived, there was a large pond in the forest behind my house. Anytime I got stressed out about the future or work I had to do the sound of the water moving back and forth in the wind calmed me down. Here the effect was still the same; the thoughts of my fear slowly left me as I lost myself to the sound of the water beating gently against the rocks and the soft sand.

"None of this was supposed to happen. None of this should be real," I sighed as I laid back and shut my eyes. "What I need is a Wilson," I thought as I remembered the movie _Cast Away._

"What's a wilson?" asked a voice, one I thankfully didn't recognize.

Shooting up and looking around, I found a girl looking back at me from the middle of the water. "Jesus, does everyone feel the need to do that?" I asked exasperated.

"Do what?" the girl asked curiously, cocking her head to the side.

"Nothing, don't worry about it," I said looking down at her. _Wait…water?_ "You wouldn't happen to be a mermaid would you?"

She smiled and lifted a large tail fin in reply. I took my time now to look at her more closely. Though the moonlight provided limited lighting, I could see she had large almond shaped eyes that were surprisingly somewhere between blue and purple. Her long, dark brown hair was drenched from the water and part of it floated around her in the water. I could also glimpse part of what looked like a sea shell bra from under the water.

"So you're a mermaid then," I confirmed.

"Yep," she giggled as she continued watching me.

"I have half a mind to let you drown me right now," I said remembering that portion of the Disney movie along with other mermaid folklore in other fairy tales.

"Why would I want to drown you?" she asked seeming appalled by the thought.

"Isn't that your mermaid thing?"

"Not for all of us," she said with downcast eyes. "My friends would laugh at me, but I always liked watching people rather than hurting them."

Still not completely convinced she wouldn't kill me, I figured I'd try to be nice anyway. "My name's Kim, what's yours?" I asked.

"Celeste!" she responded excitedly. "I haven't seen a girl here at this spot since Wendy came. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just wandering around," I said. Despite her friendly nature, it was hard to tell how much contact she might have had with Pan, and I wasn't interested in finding out. "Thinking about different things in my life. If you had asked me a few years ago, I never would have predicted that this is where I'd be."

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"Maybe it's different for you because you're a mermaid. But where I'm from, we start going to school when you're 5 or 6 years old. At school you learn loads of different things, some of it boring, but sometimes it's exciting. When you turn 16, you start getting different responsibilities, and then when you're 17 you have to start thinking about what kind of job you might want when you grow up. Then when you know what you want to do, most people will go on to more professional school when they are about 18 and study and work for another four years. Before I came here, I was at one of these schools," I explained. The entire time I was talking Celeste looked a bit confused, but also like she desperately wanted to understand what I was talking about.

"This school thing doesn't seem very fun," she decided.

"It isn't always," I admitted. "But the goal is to be able to learn a lot so that eventually you can get a good job that will pay a decent amount of money. In my world you have to pay for the place you live and the food you eat and a lot of other things."

"You don't sound very happy about this," she observed. "Did you know what you wanted to do at this school?"

I sighed wishing she hadn't asked that question. "I thought I did, but I was starting to have my doubts. I was also trying to fill out papers so that I could try to get a job somewhere to help me make some extra money."

I didn't want to tell her the details of my situation. Out of nowhere my parents suddenly decided to stop helping me with school which meant I suddenly had to find a job to help with the expenses for my university. They especially weren't happy that I couldn't fully decide on what I wanted to do with my life. Their reasoning for not helping me was, "We aren't going to be able to help you forever. It's time you learned what it's like to provide for yourself." Ever since finding out, the urge to run away from there had gotten stronger and stronger, but I never planned on going through with it.

Coming out of my little world I realized Celeste was looking at me concernedly. "Sorry, Celeste. I spaced out there for a minute. I should probably get going." _Who knows when a search party might come looking for me._

Getting up and heading back toward the forest, I stopped when I heard a splash in the water. Turning around, Celeste had gotten onto a nearby rock to speak to me easier. "Where are you going?" she asked sadly. I felt bad for leaving, but staying in one place for too long didn't feel like the best idea at the moment.

"I'm going to go explore more. I'll try to come back soon though," I promised. "And also, if anyone comes by looking for me, would you mind not telling them what we talked about?"

"Sure!" she exclaimed. "Goodbye, Kim!"

"Later, Celeste," I responded as I walked back into the forest. _I wonder if there's a climbing tree_, I wondered as I walked on.


	21. Chapter 21

Wandering close to the edge of where the tree line met the beach area, I continued wandering around the island. I wasn't concerned about getting back to the campsite anytime soon after everything that morning, least of all see Peter "I won't kill you, but will let you think it" Pan. The biggest thing that the fighting this morning showed me is that I didn't want to see what would happen to me if I ever truly pissed off Pan. To be fair, there was a decent chance I was halfway to that point because of my inability to not give a sarcastic comeback. _Mom and Dad did always say your mouth would get you in trouble one day_. At the thought of my parents my mind immediately switched tracks in order to avoid becoming a mixture of sad and angry.

It wasn't until I reached for my iPod that I realized I had left it behind in my room. Sighing, I continued on. My eyes scanned the forest floor for any stray Dreamshade plants that may be around. _That's all I would need on top of everything else. Death by plant all alone and no one would even know_.

About twenty minutes later an entrance to a cave off the beach was visible; it wasn't a tree to sit in, but it would do. Doubtful that I was being followed at all in the first place, I headed out of the cover of the trees and toward the entrance. After getting in, I was surprised to see it wasn't much of a cave. The space was circular shaped and it appeared that the walls were made of the same rock formation, but there was a wide hole in the ceiling allowing in the moonlight. Heading to the wall opposite the entrance, I sank to the ground to lie on my back. The rock felt cool to the skin it touched reminding me that I had no jacket or blanket with me here.

"Maybe next time you get taken to Neverland, you'll be more prepared," I said, speaking to the stars like they were my audience. Noticing how the cave slightly magnified my voice and didn't echo terribly, I knew this would have been a great place to listen to my music. _I wish I had my iPod with me_, picturing exactly where it was laying in my mind as I made my wish.

Suddenly there was a slight pressure in my hand. "No way," I trailed off in amazement as I brought my hand up to my face. My iPod was in my hand looking exactly as it had when it was in my room this morning. _How did I do that? Does it work on any wish I make?_ "I wish I could go home," I whispered as I squeezed my eyes shut. Upon reopening them I was met with the sight of the cave walls and stars once again. Unsurprised by the failure, I unplugged my headphones and turned up the music a little bit so that I could sing along with the songs.

While singing, I closed my eyes for a few songs to get lost in the music. I didn't even notice a pair glowing eyes watching me.

**Back at Camp**

Peter watched on as the boys were still playing with their different weapons. It was more of a practice to keep up on their fighting skills, but the point of the game was to see who could continue fighting the longest. He had only stopped because he was watching Jack. He was still sword fighting with Kellan, but ever since Kim had left Jack had lost his excitement in his actions and kept a straight face.

Heading over toward the two boys, Peter picked up a sword from the pile. "Go over to Felix or someone," Peter commanded to Kellan who nodded dutifully before heading off. Peter then began sparring with Jack who looked less than thrilled by the partner change. "Sulking isn't going to do you any good you know."

Instead of responding, Jack kept up with blocking Peter's offensive. "Oh, come off it. It's not that bad is it?" he asked smirking as he kept pushing Jack backwards.

"Look, you were right, okay? She wasn't prepared to see us doing regular things. I feel bad that I didn't warn her or tell or something," Jack admitted.

Knocking Jack's sword out of his hand, Peter's sword came to rest lightly against his chest. "I'm always right, never forget that," Peter said to him with a smirk and mischievous eyes. "But I'm getting rather bored of this. Let's start a new game, shall we?"

Pulling back from Jack, Peter went to stand on a nearby log. He gathered the rest of the group's attention after letting out a loud whistle. "Boys! Our dear Kimberly has been gone for hours. Everyone split up and look for her. If you find her before I do and bring her back to camp, you get to go with me on my next pirate scouting mission."

As he stepped off the log, Pan's ears were filled with cheers from the boys. "You should come with me if you want to find her and apologize. You know I'll find her first," he remarked as he left the campsite, walking out exactly where Kim had left earlier.


	22. Chapter 22

"So get out, get out, get out of my head  
And fall into my arms instead  
I don't, I don't, don't know what it is  
But I need that one thing  
So get out, get out, get out of my mind (out of my mind)  
And come on, come into my life  
I don't, I don't, don't know what it is  
But I need that one thing  
Yeah, you've got that one thing"

"Not very good at hiding, are you?" came a voice from the entrance of the cave. Tilting my head farther back, I saw an upside down Jack and Pan who was failing to keep amusement off his face.

"I am appalled at the fact that you think I would consider this hiding. Playing music and singing doesn't exactly make for a good hiding strategy. Seriously, insulting. And I am allowed to listen to a British boy band if I feel like it, which you have zero right to comment on because you don't even know who they are," I said while sitting up and dusting off my clothes. "Besides, I figured you would come find me eventually."

"You're fairly confident," he responded. I couldn't tell if he was surprised or pleased to see that I was figuring out his island "rules". _If you can call them that. They're more like whims he follows_.

"All your 'games' are new on me aren't they? It'd get a bit boring if I was gone," I accused, glaring at him slightly. Despite the distance I had put between myself and the morning, there was still plenty of resentment remaining.

As I was stretching my arms, I noticed one of my shoelaces was untied. Bending down to retie it, a shadow fell over me. Jack had moved away from the door and Peter to come closer to me. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry," he said lowly. "About this morning."

"Last I checked you weren't the one who tried to hit me in the face or hold a knife to my throat, so you really don't need to apologize," I told him, shooting a look towards Pan who smirked in return. Standing back up, I could see he was going to try to add something else. "Please, don't. It's okay," I said putting my hand lightly on his shoulder. I started wrapping my headphones around my iPod when I noticed Pan watching me with a contemplative look. "Problem?"

"Where'd you get that?" he asked gesturing to my iPod. _There's no way he could know_…

"From my room, where else?" I responded. I wanted to pretend that there was no way he could know I didn't have it when I left, but there was no way I could convince myself of that lie because he's Peter Pan and of course he would know. He kept his face blank at my response, which I decided to interpret as him knowing I lied. "Well if you two are ready to go, let's get out of here," I said moving around Jack and heading toward the entrance.

"Not so fast," Pan said stepping into the middle of the doorway. "We need to discuss something first."

"Do we really?" I asked surprised.

"Yes. See, I can't have someone living in my camp who doesn't know how to fight. Starting tomorrow, you will begin training," he stated.

Even though I knew it was something that would probably help me with this group of boys and Lord knows whoever else lived on the island, agreeing to Pan's decision was the last thing I wanted to do. "I'll agree to do that, but only if I can still go to the beach every other day." There was no way I would give up my alone time. "Otherwise, no deal."

After mulling it over for a minute, he finally responded. "Agreed," he said, sticking out his hand. Reluctantly taking his hand in mine, I shook it with the feeling that I had still made an agreement I would come to regret. Once I let go, Pan headed out the entrance and turned to the right.

"Get her back to camp, Jack," he called.

"Where are you going?" I asked, but I received no response as Pan continued walking into the trees.

"He's probably going to his thinking tree," Jack said passing me and heading in the opposite direction as Peter. "He does that sometimes."

Shrugging it off, I followed Jack back to camp. I pulled out my iPod to peer down at it still curious about how it had appeared in the first place. Remembering it had been entering its yellow stage before I shut it off, I gripped it tight in my hand. _Please, don't die_, I thought. _I need this more than anything else on this island right now. Please. _"Recharge or something," I whispered, pleading to nothing but still hoping.

"Did you say something?" Jack asked turning his head to look back at me.

"Just talking to myself. Sorry," I replied laughing a little. He gave me a half smile before turning back around.

Looking back at my iPod, my thumb twitched over the wheel. Pressing down I was surprised but elated to see the battery bar back in the green section. _No way_, I thought as I looked down at it. Turning it off, I grinned the whole way back to camp. _As long as this doesn't die, maybe being here won't be so bad_.

* * *

Sitting on a thick tree branch halfway up a tree, Peter stared out past the other branches to observe his surroundings. As soon as a dark figure showed up in the distance, his eyes tracked it until it was a few feet in front of him, eyes glowing bright. "Glad to see you could make it."

_You called_, a dark voice said, one that only Pan could hear. _Is it about this girl?_

"She's very interesting to me. Ever since she arrived, she has reacted differently than anyone before her. She heard my music, but it sounded bad. She constantly talks back and questions. Not to mention that she pushed me out of a dream. What should we make of Kimberly?" Pan asked the shadow.

_The girl has power. That device was not with her when she entered the cave; I saw it appear in her hand._

"Are you saying she has magic?" Peter asked, intrigued.

_Not necessarily, but I think she has power._

"Is there a difference?"

_Yes. You have magic which makes you powerful, and the island and amount of time you've spent here increases it. _

"Yes, I know that," Peter said impatiently. "What I want to know is why Kim is different?"

_From what you have described and what I witnessed today, I believe the girl's power stems from her will. _

"Her will?" he restated. The shadow nodded its head. "Then how did she make the music device come to her? I know she didn't have it with her when she left. She would need magic to move it."

_In that case, I think that she wanted it strongly enough and bent the island's magic to her will._

"What kind of person can manipulate magic? None of the boys can, Hook and his crew can't, and not even Tinkerbell who used to be a fairy," Peter acknowledged.

_It's hard to say. My suggestion would be that you continue to observe her. Learn more about her. The girl is unique. If she doesn't have magic, you could learn how she makes her power work and become more powerful yourself._

With that the shadow flew away from the tree, and Peter sat there considering the conversation for a moment before getting down from the tree and heading back to camp. Upon reaching the edge of the campsite, Peter stood in the shadow of the trees to observe the group. Most of the boys had gathered around Kim again as she was finishing her story that she had started previously. "She certainly is something," Peter whispered to himself as he watched Kim's animated expressions as she talked to the boys.


	23. Chapter 23

When I found out who my sparring partner was supposed to be, the temptation to fling myself off a cliff or find a mermaid to drown me or, hell, walk straight into the fire pit was greater than anything I had felt. _And I wish that was an exaggeration_. "You are joking, right?" I asked Jack as I looked between him and my "biggest" fan. Felix looked about as pleased about being here as I did except for the fact that I had a feeling his look would change when we started practicing whereas I would keep being upset.

"Pan's order," Jack said shrugging his shoulders in a semi-apologetic manner.

"I'm sorry, did we all miss the point in time yesterday morning when this person," I said pointing at Felix with the knife I was holding, "did his best to make me into a human whack-a-mole?" My question was only met with blank looks informing me that they missed my meaning. "I don't know why I bother to waste perfectly good comparisons on you all," I muttered under my breath.

"Look, Pan ordered it, so it has to be done. I'm not thrilled to do this you know," Felix said in his slow, dragging voice.

"Speaking of your all powerful leader, why didn't he feel the need to tell me this himself? I was under the impression he liked giving me bad news," I said.

"What does it matter? Let's get this over with," Felix said, patience clearly wearing thin. Before I could come up with another retort, Felix advanced so quickly that I found myself with a knife to my throat in seconds. Again. For the second day in a row.

"I wasn't ready," I huffed as he let me go a half minute later.

"That's the idea," he pointed out. "If someone were to attack you, they aren't going to wait for you to pull out your weapon before taking you down. We'll start working on your defense. Your goal for the rest of the training is to not get pinned."

Once he was finished, Felix took on a ready stance. I backed up a few steps before turning my back to sprint into the forest, hoping to put some distance between us. The cool tip of the knife touched the back of my neck before I could even take my lead off step. "Pinned."

"What am I supposed to do then?" I asked him, sighing. Asking Felix for advice was not what I wanted to do, but the idea of getting pinned with a knife every ten seconds was less appealing.

"First off, never turn your back on your attacker when they are close to you like I was. Otherwise you are just asking to get attacked. Keep them somewhere in your vision at all times. You need to turn your natural flight response into fight," he explained.

I nodded, but scoffed internally. Ever since I could remember I have run from things I couldn't deal with: physically or emotionally. "So is there anything else I need to do? I mean, I can't just hope to evade you forever."

"No, you really can't," he grinned slyly. "Try to block me. Just do whatever comes naturally."

And so began the slowest cat and mouse game ever. The comparison was probably over exaggerated, but it felt that way. Keeping him in my line of vision, I maneuvered through the forest waiting for him to do something. Thinking he was maybe waiting for me to make the first move, I decided that striking up a conversation may count as "doing what comes naturally." _Lord knows that I speak my mind anyway_.

"Why are you doing this if you clearly hate me?" I asked him.

"I don't hate you. I just don't like you," Felix clarified.

"Whatever, same thing. I mean, why did you agree to this training session?"

"Because Pan told me to," he answered. He made a grab for my arm, but I spun away from it and continued avoiding him.

"Do you all just jump when Pan tells you to jump?" I asked. "You shouldn't feel like you have to do something just because he says."

Suddenly Felix moved into action, shoving me against a tree and held the knife to my stomach. "We do what he asks of us because we are loyal to him. Pin," he said releasing me and turning around to walk away. Seizing the opportunity, I quietly raised my own knife to his neck and applied a little pressure. I almost should have expected the chuckle that came out of his mouth. "Good, you're learning."

With that, he turned quickly around and knocked my right hand causing the knife to slip out of it and land a few feet away. I could see exactly where it landed, and made to go after it when I heard a tsk sound coming from Felix. "Considering, well, you," he said with a sneer, stepping between me and the knife, "it's probably best that you figure out how to defend yourself without any weapon."

His advance was quicker this time and I was having difficulty trying to focus on him and not tripping over my feet. The next thing I knew, I had completely lost sight of him. I stopped where I was standing and slowly looked around, trying not to make any noise. My heart rate started to pick up and I kept my breathing quiet as I walked to a tree and leaned against it. The longer I listened to the swaying trees, the more I felt my internal panic rising. Clasping my hands behind my back, I closed my eyes and saw exactly where I had dropped that stupid knife. _I wish I had my knife back. At least if I had it I'd feel like I stood a chance against him. _

My eyes snapped open once I heard a twig snap right next to me, distracting me from my thoughts. Felix stepped close and put his left hand next to my head and let his right place the knife along my cheek. "That was a good try, Kim," he said, but his eyes held his true amusement at me getting trapped again.

Before he could say anything else, my instincts kicked in. He was too close to my face and setting off all my warning bells about personal space being invaded. So I did the first thing I could think of to get him and his stupid victory smirk away from me: kneed him where it counted, making sure to move my head away from his knife in the process.

As Felix hunched over trying to deal with the pain, I walked over to him and grabbed his face. Tilting it up to see his full glare, I placed the knife that had appeared in my hand only a moment before by his neck. "Pinned," I grinned in satisfaction. It wasn't even two seconds later when it was replaced by a look of annoyance upon feeling another knife in my lower back. "Not quite," came Peter's voice from behind me.

Sighing, I let go of Felix with a little shove before moving so that I could keep both of them in my vision. "Oh, look. His majesty finally decided to grace us with his presence," I said with a mock curtsey.

Ignoring my comment, Pan glanced at Felix for a moment before looking back at me. "That was kind of a cheap shot, don't you think?" he asked seemingly disappointed.

"I think he was invading my personal space, so I did what I had to do," I explained. _If you're looking for an apology, it isn't coming_, I thought.

"Last bit of advice for today: never assume you're fighting one person," he said in a haughty voice, though the advice seemed genuine.

I took his comment seriously for a moment until I realized something. "Wait a minute. Have you been hiding in the trees all day watching us train?" I asked.

"Of course not," he said with a wave of his hand. Before heading over to Felix, he came over to me and leaned toward my ear. "But I was here long enough to observe some interesting things," he added. He smirked at me before moving on.

Even though he had kept his statement vague, I knew what he was talking about. He had seen the knife reappear in my hand. I hadn't even had time to process how it had happened yet, and already he knew about it. On top of that, I had a sneaky suspicion that piquing Pan's interest in this way would have consequences that I had no interest in finding out.

"Come on. You're done training. For now, at least," Pan added, pulling me out of my thoughts. The two boys walked in front of me while I dragged along behind them. _Just another night's sleep away from getting to be on my own_, I reminded myself.


	24. Chapter 24

The next few days fell into a pattern after that. Training days meant that I spent some time in the morning training with one of the boys. Morning practice was followed by a break either for food or to just lounge around the fire pit talking with people which allowed me to practice learning the rest of their names. Then after the break was over there would be a longer training session between me and one of the boys who wasn't picked to go on whatever special missions Peter was taking some of the others on. Pan rarely came and interrupted any of my other training sessions except to throw a piece of advice in which was normally followed by a sarcastic comment.

Training involved more than just the knife I started with on the first day. It ranged from hand to hand combat to stealth techniques to the various weapons that the boys used. Normally the session revolved around whatever strength my partner had. Some of the time was also spent trying to teach me how to fix a weapon if it broke like having to reattach a string to a bow. Having zero experience with anything I used to train, there was a lot of frustration on my end. I quickly realized that knowing when to pick a defensive or offensive move was something I could apply my years of observation practice to. It was all about reading your opponent and predicting how they would act based off their movements. Not that any of it really helped initially. Getting pinned constantly happened no matter who I was training with, although Felix took more pleasure in gloating about it than any of the others.

By far my favorite thing about it all was knowing that when I went to bed after a day of training I would be heading to the beach as soon as I woke up again. It was also a great surprise to know that my iPod still hadn't died even though I had told Pan initially that it should have been dead a few days ago. Thankfully he hadn't asked about it yet, and I was mostly only pleased because I had no idea how to explain that it just wouldn't die. _Even on Neverland I doubt he would buy a "I wished it, so it hasn't" explanation_.

Waking up for my second beach morning, I quickly threw my shoes on and hair up and headed out the door as quietly as I could. I never bothered to try to find anyone when I left because they knew it was my day off. If they really needed to talk to me, they could always just search me out. Realistically the only one who had done that ever was Pan, and he wasn't exactly my favorite visitor. _Do you truly not like him or do you just not like how easily you two can throw insults at each other which are more like jokes?_ I questioned myself before shaking my head. I tried hard not to think about Pan because I wasn't really sure I was ready to answer that question. Sure he had some of the characteristics that I was used to because of my friends, but was I willing to become something remotely close to friends with him? Brushing off the thought I kept wandering through the trees, but because I was distracted I ran into something.

"Hey! Watch it!" came a female voice. _Oops. Not a something, a someone. And a….girl?_

"Oh my God, I am so sorry!" I apologized bending down to help pick up the things she had dropped on the ground.

"No," she said batting my hand away when I tried to pick up a bundle of herbs. "You've done enough, don't you think?" Now she turned to glare at me. She looked like she was maybe in her late twenties with a dark forest green dress that had an asymmetrical skirt, dark handkerchief tied around her neck, dark tights, brown ankle boots, and a messy bun put on top of her head. Her accent was somewhat hard for me to place; it sounded like it could be British or Australian_. _

"I really am sorry," I repeated. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Are you…Are you Tinkerbell?" I asked her curiously, hoping that maybe she was something good ol' Disney had made up for the sake of the movie. I mean, Tinkerbell never spoke in _Peter Pan_ and this person talked.

"Who's asking? Did Pan send you for something?" she glared at me accusingly, standing back up after gathering her different food supplies.

"Please," I said rolling my eyes, "doing Peter Pan a favor is not high on my priority list. This is actually one of the times I get to escape from him and the Lost Boys for a while. I'm Kim, by the way," I added sticking out my hand for a handshake.

She looked at me appraisingly. _Checking to see if I'm lying probably_, I figured since she seemed to know Pan and clearly his love of games and getting people to do what he wants. Finally after a minute, she shook my hand. "Tinkerbell. You can call me Tink if you like."

"Not to be creepy or anything, but do you mind if I just hang out with you for a little bit? I'll leave after like half an hour, I promise. I've just been stuck at camp crazy for almost a week and haven't had anyone else to talk to," I admitted looking at the ground.

"Fine," Tinkerbell replied. "I was almost home anyway, just follow me."

_I think this is the first time since I've gotten here that I've actually been excited to hear those words_, I realized. Looking around I saw that we were walking along a semi-permanent trail, probably from the number of times she's walked it. About five minutes later we stopped at the foot a tree house. Tinkerbell headed up the ladder at the base of the tree and I followed up behind her. It was basic looking on the inside, but felt homey. "It's nice," I told her.

"It's nothing special," she replied. "So, you live with them?"

"Yep. Not many other options the way I see it."

"But you're not happy being there?" she asked again.

I couldn't help but laugh at the question earning me a confused look from Tinkerbell. "Let's just say I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, yeah? It's sort of an adjustment." She nodded and went around putting things away. "So can I ask you a slightly personal question?"

"You can ask, but I may not answer it," she admitted.

"Fair enough. Back where I'm from, we have a story about Peter Pan and to make a long story short, it's very different than here. In my story, you're a fairy. Is that still true here?" I asked. She paused putting her things away for a split second before continuing on.

Things were silent for a few minutes while my question hung in the air. Nervous that I may have hit a sore spot, I was about to ask her a less invasive question when she looked me straight in the eye. "No, I'm not a fairy. Not anymore."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry or offend you or anything," I rambled.

"It's fine," she said although her straight face didn't make me feel any better.

"Right. Well," I trailed off when it was clear that was the end of that conversation. "Could I ask you a less invasive question?" That question earned me a blank stare. "You wouldn't happen to have an extra outfit would you?"

Tinkerbell let a bark of a laugh fall out of her mouth before she responded to me. "Are you serious? What's wrong with what you have?"

Looking down at my outfit, I sighed at the mess it had become. My black pants had flecks of sand I was convinced would never come out and my t-shirt had its own fair share of stains forming on it. Not to mention that my running shoes while they had gotten dirtier since coming here still had a fairly bright design of white and lime green. "I don't know if you've noticed, but people like to blend in with the nature around here," I joked earning a half smile. "It'd be nice if I wasn't so much a target because I have a purple shirt and bright colored shoes."

After considering for a moment, Tinkerbell walked over to a corner in her treehouse and pulled out a closed box. I couldn't see what she was rifling through until she turned around and handed me a small pile of clothes. "I'm not sure if the shoes will fit," she told me.

Going through the pile I saw she had given me a pair of dark pants that were either brown or black, an extra-long quarter length sleeved shirt with a slight v-shaped neckline and was jaggedly cut across the hem with had mottled dark green and brown colors throughout, a large belt, and a pair of dark taupe, lace-up boots that I guessed came up to my mid-calf. "Thank you so much! Do you mind if I try them on to see if they fit?"

"Go for it," she said. I went off to a corner of the room and started changing. "What did you mean before when you said today was one of your days of escape from Pan?" Although it was a seemingly innocent question, I could tell there was more information she was looking for.

"It's a compromise the two of us made," I said without elaboration.

"Pan doesn't make compromises," Tinkerbell said like it was a significant fact.

"Well he did this time. I don't take orders very well, personally," I said as I finished tying up the boots. "These fit perfectly by the way. Thank you again," I said while standing up. The pants reminded me of jeggings in a way because of the style and the fact that I could move around easily in them and I loved that the sleeves came down my arm somewhat because I still didn't have a jacket to wear.

"No problem. They were just spare clothes I never planned on using anyway. You should get going and do whatever you're supposed to do," she said walking back over to the ladder. I stuffed my shirt and shoes into the top of my pants and tied it together creating a makeshift bag to carry it. Nodding at Tinkerbell in gratitude once more, I started climbing down the ladder. "Kim," she called when I had almost reached the bottom forcing me to look straight up at her. "Be careful, okay? I know Pan well enough to know not to get involved with him. He's not a good person."

"Thanks for the advice, but I think I'm okay for now. In a way he kind of reminds me of some people I know, so I'm used to his attitude. If you're ever bored, try to find me some time," I called as I headed back on my path toward a beach. As I was leaving her tree house, I was once again forced to reflect on how different everything here was compared to the story I had grown up with. _There is totally something up with Tinkerbell. She has a lot more to her story about not being a fairy_, I thought as I was walking away.


	25. Chapter 25

Not even five minutes into my journey to a beach, my thoughts were interrupted. "Nice outfit."

"Holy sh-" I stopped myself as I spun around to see Peter Pan leaning against a tree I had just passed. Walking back over to him, I shoved him out of frustration. _If he does this stupid popping out of nowhere thing one more time, _I trailed off in my head trying to think of things I could do that would hurt him.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" he asked amusedly.

"Shut up. What do you want, Pan?" I asked crossing my arms.

"Well, I was just wandering through the forest minding my own business when I suddenly find my favorite Lost Girl not anywhere near a beach even though I know she left well over thirty minutes ago. Not only that, but she has on entirely different clothes. And it begs the question, what were you doing?" His relaxed demeanor was betrayed by the slightly threatening undertone in his voice.

"Oh, the clothes thing? Well, I thought that if I had clothes that looked like the rest of you, then Felix would stop hating me as much and I could finally win him over," I joked earning a sharp glare in return. Rolling my eyes, I turned and started walking away. "Not that it's any of your business, but I ran into Tinkerbell, talked to her for a little bit, borrowed some clothes, and now I am on my way back to a beach of my choice. So, see you later!" I said with mock enthusiasm and a wave of my hand.

A hand grabbed my wrist and spun me around so that I was now face to face with frustrated looking Peter. "That wasn't part of our deal."

"The way I remember it there was nothing said about not taking a detour on my way there," I countered trying to tug my arm away from his hand, but his grip tightened slightly. "Let go."

He continued to glare at me for a minute until his smug look returned. "Okay," he said letting go of my arm. I turned back around and started walking only to be surprised when I heard footsteps following me. Turning around to look at Pan, he had stopped walking but was still smirking at me. "Something wrong, princess?"

"Why are you following me?" I asked, frustration bleeding into my voice.

"The way I remember it there was nothing said about you having to go to the beach by yourself. I'm tagging along," he responded throwing my words back at me.

Knowing I had no counterargument to what he said, I let out an irritated groan as I moved through the forest. Every time I forcefully knocked a plant out of my way I earned a chuckle from my unwanted follower which made me even more frustrated.

By the time I broke through the edge of the forest and walked onto the beach, my plan of action had changed to just running around on the beach and ignoring Pan to the best of my ability. _Ignore him and his annoying face and his annoying attitude and his annoying existence_, I thought to myself even though I knew I was overreacting a little. I was used to having as much alone time as I had wanted before I came here, so these major chunks of time to myself were important to me. _Might as well get started_, I thought as I started looking for my iPod. Seeing it wasn't in my new belt where I had stuck it, my next thought was to feel around in my other pile of clothes.

"Looking for something?" Snapping my head up revealed a very amused Pan sitting on a nearby rock slowly turning my iPod in his hands.

"How did you even get that?" I asked irritation and surprise flowing into my voice.

"Magic. There are just so many uses for it. If you want it," he said slowly with a wicked grin, "Come and get it."

Walking over to where he was sitting, I knew I would regret trying to grab it back. When I was about three feet away from him, he disappeared in a blink. _What the_… "Looking for me?" I turned to my right and saw him about ten feet away. "Magic," he reminded me. Giving it one last go, I headed his direction already preparing for him to disappear on me again. Unsurprised when he left my eyesight when I got close, I turned around to find him lounging on the rock again.

"Don't get me wrong here Pan, this has been a blast. However, I'm not interested in spending the next hour trying to get something from you when you'll just poof away whenever you feel like it," I said as I stopped five feet from him.

"If you really wanted it, I'm sure you could think of another way to get it," he smirked.

"This has to be one of the most round about way someone's gone to ask for a kiss," I joked trying to distract myself from the thought that was creeping through my head. _He knows_, my mind kept repeating. "If you have something on your mind, come right out and say it."

"I think you know exactly what I'm wanting," he said knowing look. "Take it from me."

Conflicting feelings coursed through me. On the one hand I could own up to whatever it was I could do and try to take it. _If you do that you become even more of a pawn to him in his weird life game_. Or I could pretend that I had no idea what he was talking about. _He'll read through that lie in a second_. Who knows really how he'd react to lying. He hated it enough when I tricked him with the song. Is a lie worse than that?

"Look," I started, "I have no idea how it works. Whatever it is that I did, I've only done it twice." _Honesty is the best policy right?_

"Hmm…funny, I'd say three times. From what I remember you said this should not work by now, but you've been listening to it for days. Very mysterious," he said looking at me strangely.

"I'd call that a happy accident," I smirked.

"Stop stalling and take the damn thing," Pan commanded again.

I narrowed my eyes at him before I spoke. "I don't take orders from you," I said raising my voice. "I already told you, I don't know how I did it." Turning around, I stomped away from Pan, not caring if he'd follow me along the shore.

"Maybe you need a little incentive then," I heard him shout to me causing me to turn back toward him. As soon as my eyes made contact with his body, he stood and raised his arm. _No. _He released my iPod into the air straight toward the ocean.

"No!" I shouted running a few steps closer as it soared through the air. _No, don't fall in_, I cried in my head. Just as it was about to fall into the water, it disappeared from my sight and I felt a weight in my right hand. Opening my hand revealed my iPod safe and sound. Clapping graced my ears and I turned my head to glare at Pan with as much hate as I could muster.

"See incentive," he smirked.

"You got what you wanted. We're done here," I told him as I put my headphones in my ear so that I could run out all my frustration with him.

He looked at me like he was developing a plan. _One I'd really like to not be part of…_ "I think this revelation calls for something new. On these days, we should spend part of your time figuring out this power that you have," Pan decided.

"That wasn't part of the agreement," I reminded him, but the argument sounded weak to my own ears.

"As was pointed out earlier, you didn't say that you were to come alone," Pan grinned in satisfaction. "Maybe next time you'll think through your wording. See you later," he added with a wink and began walking away.

_That arrogant little prick._ Irritated beyond belief, I put on the first song I came to and took off down the beach breaking in my new shoes and pounding out my feelings into the sand.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, and followed so far! Life has gotten busier for me, so I will try to update when I can. I'm hoping for at least once a week. Thanks again!


	26. Chapter 26

It wasn't until I stopped to take a break that I discovered my mistake in not turning around after leaving Pan. Most of the time had been spent running and making pointless threats to him in my head. Once I had stopped to stretch a tiny bit, I kept walking down the beach. I sighed as I glanced around where I was now standing, desperately racking my brain to see if there was anything familiar about the location so that I could direct myself home. _Since when did I start referring to anything here as home?_

Lying onto the ground, a small groan came out of my mouth. "Good. Now I'm literally lost." _Because it's also not enough to just have no idea what is going on in your life_. Pulling my headphones out of my ear, I paused the music to listen to the sound of soft waves and gentle breeze ruffling the trees and bushes behind me as it blew over my face.

Looking at the moon reminded me that there was at least one thing about being here that wasn't so bad. Evening had always been my favorite time of day, the later the better. At night everything that seemed impossible had a chance at being real. It felt like any of my movies or books could pop out and happen right in front of me. Harry, Ron, and Hermione could bring me to Hogwarts. I could go to Camp Half-Blood with Grover because one of my parents was a god or goddess and I didn't know. "Be careful what you wish for, I guess," I huffed closing my eyes.

"You're talking to yourself again," I heard a voice giggle. Sitting up revealed Celeste lying somewhat in the sand so that her tail was covered in water, but still close enough to talk.

"It must be your destiny to watch me slowly go insane," I joked.

She just laughed her tinkling laugh and asked, "How have you been? I haven't seen you for a few days. I thought you went back."

"Nope, still here," I said dejectedly. "I don't think His Majesty plans on making a trip off the island anytime soon." She squinted her eyes and tilted her head in a confused manner. "Pan," I clarified.

"Oh! Do you not like him?" she asked.

"Ha. What's there to like?" There was a small part of me what wondered if she had any convincing arguments.

"I know it may not seem like it, but he's very protective of the Lost Boys." I snorted my disbelief, but Celeste continued. "No, really! He's saved a few of them from close calls before."

"No offense, but how could you know this? You're kind of tied to the water," I said trying my best not to make it sound insulting.

"I was there, silly. Other mermaids and I will help spy on the pirates for Peter so we've seen the fights they get into," she explained.

_Are we even talking about the same person? _Thinking back to the morning when Pan trapped me with his knife to my throat it was hard to think he was the same person Celeste was saying saved the life of the others. "Wait, did you say pirates?" I asked once what she said processed.

"Yeah! It's like a game between the boys and the pirates. But the pirates have always distrusted the mermaids, so we help Peter." _Gee, pirates and superstitions about mermaids. Who would have guessed?_ I was about to ask her something else when she cut me off with, "You know, I bet I know why you don't get along with Pan."

"Oh, really?"

"You two have similar personalities!" At my look of disbelief, she added, "Well, you both have to have the last say."

"How do you know what discussions I have with Pan?" I asked.

"You do it with me," she shrugged. "It mostly comes out in the banter. It's pretty easy to assume you do it with everyone. And I've overheard plenty of Peter's conversations with others."

"I won't deny the bantering thing because you're right, I do that with everyone. But I'm pretty sure a majority of the reasons I don't like Pan is because he thinks he can just order me around like a kid and I'll just listen to him. I prefer to make my own decisions." _Even though I'm incapable of making any, but that's a conversation for another time._

She looked at me with understanding. "Can you blame him for doing that though? He _is_ the leader. But if that's your biggest issue, I can see why you fight with him," she pointed out. Celeste looked behind me and a frown made its way onto her face. "I think this is my cue to leave. Will you try giving Peter a chance?"

I felt a little bad for wanting to outright deny her, so I told her, "I'm not going to make any promises, but for you, Celeste, maybe." She gave a quick smile then headed back into the ocean prompting me to turn around and see what caused the sudden change in her demeanor.

The trees and their shadows made it nearly impossible to tell if anything was amiss from where I was sitting. "Someone there?" I called half-heartedly, not really caring if anyone came out or who it was. _Is there really anything else that could happen to me?_

Apparently I had yet to learn to not ask questions because soon after that thought ran through my mind, something drifted out of the forest. "You have got to be kidding," I mumbled under my breath as a human looking dark shadow came closer to me. Floating above the sand, its bright white eyes stared at me. It took a minute to rack my brain to see if this thing was part of the original Disney movie until I realized what it was. "Pan's shadow?" I asked. Silent nodding was all the shadow gave, which somehow made it even creepier.

Just by looking at it I felt a cold tingle run up my back. The shadow was eerily silent as it floated in its place and staring at me with its unblinking eyes. _No wonder Celeste wanted away from here; I should have had her drag me along_. Rather than ask any of the half dozen questions that came through my mind, all I asked the shadow was, "Do you happen to know how to point me back to camp?" There was a decent chance that asking anything else would have me more frustrated with Pan than I already was. Besides, what was the point if it couldn't talk?

Rather than give any indication of an answer, the shadow turned and slowly flew back toward the trees. Before it crossed the tree line, it turned back to look at me expectantly. "Coming. I'm coming," I mumbled as I stood up and stretched. Once I started following the shadow, it went ahead of me into the forest which ended in me questioning what my life had really come to. _You're following the shadow of a person you talk to daily. Anything else unusual need to happen, life?_ I found myself asking as I followed the shadow back to what I hoped was camp.


	27. Chapter 27

The sound of the boys talking as Pan's shadow and I got closer to camp was a sound I never thought I would be so grateful for. When I was finally able to see the flames through the bushes, the shadow quickly lifted off into the trees, effectively disappearing. After a quick glance I knew I wouldn't be able to find it even it was still around. I felt infinitely more relaxed after it left and walked through the bushes and took a seat away from the rest of the boys. Some of them gave me strange looks to which I responded with a raised brow until they went back to their conversations. It took me a moment to remember that my clothes were different which immediately reminded me that I had left my other clothes and shoes back where Pan and I had originally talked on the beach.

Groaning, I put my head in my hands to rub my eyes as if doing so would correct my mistake. A soft thump on the ground made me move my hands and was greeted with the sight of my tied up clothes and shoes in front of me. It was then I also noticed that a slight shadow was cast over me and I looked up to see Pan with a smug grin on his face. "Did you actually think you could bring them back?" he asked.

"Are you telling me you brought them then?" I questioned, surprise in my voice evident.

Rolling his eyes, he took a seat next to me and said, "Do you really think I'm a terrible person all the time?"

Instead of answering his question, I asked one of my own."Your shadow brought me back here. Have anything to do with that?"

"I came back to the beach later and you weren't there," he shrugged as he sat next to me. "I called my shadow and told him to find you, and then I grabbed your stuff and came back. It seemed like the best way to not have you complaining all night about losing it." His tone made it seem as though he was apathetic about the whole situation, but there was something keeping his posture somewhat rigid.

"Hmm. Maybe you're not a terrible person all the time then. Just a majority of it," I told him, but there was a slight tease in the comment. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, did you actually thank me for something?" The amusement and false shock coupled with a small laugh from Pan caused the ghost of a smile to form on my face before I could stop it. _Not to mention that all of it plus the accent sounds great_, my brain added which I elected to ignore.

"Don't get used to it; it was weird for me, too," I told him, still smiling. "A friend told me to give you a chance, so I'm humoring her." Hearing those words, Pan looked at me closely. There were several emotions he was keeping concealed behind his searching gaze, but I thought I was able to see one. _Is he…happy? Why is there a small bit of happiness there?_ Along with that he seemed more relaxed than when he first sat down.

Before I could think about it too much, Pan's smirk returned to his face as he looked back toward a few of the boys who had just come into camp with food for dinner. "Does this also mean you will do what I say without a fight?"

"In your dreams," I scoffed. "Besides, you'd miss the witty comebacks and sarcasm."

As I finished talking, Alex walked up to the pair of us. He nodded toward Pan briefly before turning to me. "Kim, will you share a story with us again tonight?" Ever since striking the deal with Pan about every other day training, I had settled in to sharing stories with the group every night. So far I had finished the Weeping Angels story and spent the last few days sharing little stories with them like _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ and short snippets of TV shows and other books I liked. I would have loved to share other Disney versions of fairy tales, but it stood to reason that if the _Peter Pan_ movie was wrong, more were wrong.

"I'll think about it," I told him with a smile has he went off to join Colin. Even as I said it, I knew I would either continue a story or pick up a new one. One of the only things I had enjoyed doing since coming to Neverland was getting to share all the stories that I loved myself. Ever since I had been young I loved any book I could get my hands on. They didn't have to be fairy tales; anything that was fictional was up for grabs. Then I started finding TV shows and movies I loved, and my friend Taylor had a lot of the same book and movie interests as me, so I always had someone to talk to about them.

From the corner of my eye I could see Pan pull out his pipes and start turning it around in his hand as he stared into the fire. That reminds me, I thought as I saw it. I had thought about sharing _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_ the other day until I remembered the part with Mr. Tumnus using his pan pipe to lull Lucy to sleep. When I had remembered that portion of the story, I wondered if the same thing worked with Pan. Seeing the pipes also made me think of the pied piper story. Except there was no good way to go about asking Pan about it without the situation ending in one of us being pissed off. Even if it was a pied piper scenario, at least it didn't seem to work on me.

It was after a few minutes that I realized Pan was trying to talk to me again. Sometime while I was lost in my thoughts I must have turned my head more to stare at him twirling the pipes in his hands which had since stilled. Shifting my head to look at Pan's, I saw laughter flickering in his eyes. _Or that could just be the firelight_. Raising an eyebrow, I waited until he repeated himself.

"I asked if there was something on your mind."

"Just some things," I said vaguely, looking back toward the fire. I felt rather than saw Peter lean closer to me until he was a few inches from the side of my head. Rather than give in and turn my head, I continued staring into the fire.

He chuckled lowly and I could feel his breath hit the side of my face. "If you enjoy looking at me, you can just say so," he said a slight whisper.

"Don't flatter yourself, Pan," I said looking at him now with a slight sneer. "Your attractive, but I've seen better." With that, I got up and went over to talk to Jack. Insulting the person you just said you were "giving a chance" probably wasn't the best decision. My entire conversation with Jack felt flat, but I put my mask on and faked a good mood anyway, laughing and teasing convincingly.

Anytime I caught a glimpse of Peter, he looked at me with a mixture of pouting annoyance and anger. I felt two things about the situation. One, that I would regret admitting to him that he was attractive. Two, bad. I just…felt bad. _Smooth, Kim. Smooth._


End file.
